LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


RUSSIA   AS   IT   IS, 


BY 


COUNT   A.   DE  GUROWSKI. 


THIRD       EDITION. 


NEW-YORK  : 

D.    APPLETON    AND     COMPANY, 

846   &  348  BEOADWAY. 

L.ONDON:   16   LITTLE   BRITAIN. 

1854. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

DAVTQ 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1854, 

By  D.  APPLETON  &  COMPANY, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New- York. 


PREFACE 


FOR  some  time  Kussia  has  more  and  more  attracted 
general  attention.  This  mighty  colossus,  over-top 
ping  Europe  and  Asia,  is  for  many  but  a  dark  cav 
ern  filled  with  demoniac  forces,  which,  let  loose, 
are  to  extinguish  light,  engulf  civilization,  and  stop 
the  onward  progress  of  the  European  world,  spread 
ing  over  it  all  the  plagues  and  curses  of  darkness. 
How  far  these  apprehensions  are  well  founded  and 
justified,  I  shall  attempt  to  elucidate  in  the  follow 
ing  pages.  I  shall  try  to  give  an  insight  into  the 
heart,  the  life  and  the  muscles  of  this  political 
giant. 

Conscience  and  truth  have  directed  my  pen  in 
explaining  the  internal  conditions  of  the  Kussian 
people,  and  the  construction  of  their  political  society. 
Their  institutions  are  presented  here,  as  they  exist  in 
reality,  as  they  are  determined  by  existing  and  obli- 
gatorv  laws.  Customs,  manners,  sentiments,  opinions 


IT  PREFACE. 


and  aspirations,  as  they  are  drawn  from  the  daily  life 
of  the  people. 

Overarched  by  despotism  and  caste,  this  peo 
ple  has  still  its  sunny  aspects.  Good  and  evil  in 
termix  there,  as  in  every  other  human  society.  The 
features,  the  character,  and  the  actual  state  of  the 
Russian  nation  are  here  laid  before  the  reader,  per 
haps  for  the  first  time,  in  an  unprejudiced  and  not 
superficial  manner.  It  is  however  not  a  history,  al 
beit  the  subjects  unfolded  and  treated  here  are  among 
the  prominent  elements  of  history.  Every  manifes 
tation,  every  kind  of  utterance  in  social  life,  belongs 
to  the  boundless  historical  domain. 

Russia  and  its  people,  generally  unknown,  are 
judged  by  their  external  form  or  government,  and 
thus  mostly  from  an  external  manifestation.  But  it  is 
not  this  si^e  alone,  not  the  lives  or  deeds  of  sovereigns, 
not  the  .littles  and  extensions  of  geographical  bound 
aries,  not'  the  concluded  treaties  and  diplomatic  tricks 
which  exclusively  form  the  objects  of  history.  All  this 
summed  up  together,  often  gives  no  true  idea  of  the 
life  indwelling  in  a  nation,  a  life  running  below  and 
mostly  in  a  direction  opposite  to  the  governmental 
external  form.  This  under-current  reveals  the  real 
character  of  a  people,  its  signification  in  the  future 
destinies  of  the  whole  or  of  a  part  of  the  human 
family.  From  this  stand-point  Russia  is  spoken  of 
in  these  pages. 

Groing  rather  rapidly  over  the  past,  I  had  in  view 
to  explain  the  formation  of  the  present  ruling  power, 
which  in  itself  is  a  social  element  and  agency,  like 


PREFACE. 


any  other.  I  attempt  to  do  it  justice  as  far  as,  in 
given  conditions  and  crises  undergone  by  the  na 
tion,  this  power  resulted  from  unavoidable  necessities, 
and  in  such  moments  has  been  beneficial  to  the  na 
tional  existence. 

In  the  life,  in  the  history  of  a  nation,  of  a  people, 
as  well  as  when  surveying  the  history  even  of  our 
whole  race ;  all  the  elements,  forces,  agencies,  together 
with  the  transient  social  forms  and  modes  of  govern 
ment,  ought  to  be  equitably  pondered  and  treated  ; 
and  the  good  and  evil  evolving  therefrom  impartially 
explained.  Therefore  neither  general  nor  special  his 
tory,  nor  its  various  compounds,  ought  to  be  dogmati 
cally  comprehended.  Its  aggregate  is  the  result  of  hu 
man  individual  or  common  activity.  It  is  the  reflection 
of  passions,  convictions,  sentiments,  schemes,  aims, 
aspirations,  impulses  lofty,  generous  or  mean,  egotis 
tical  or  expansive,  wide-embracing.  All  these  moving 
forces  have  often  been  represented  by  individualities, 
as  by  heroes,  founders  of  empires,  leaders,  legislators  ; 
or  by  special  bodies,  corporations  or  castes,  or  by 
masses  of  people  enjoying  the  right  of  a  political  and 
social  life.  Thus  history  is  as  many-faced  as  is  man, 
its  maker,  with  the  unwonted  versatility  of  his  powers 
of  mind,  with  the  still  more  unfathomed  accords  and 
discordances  of  passions,  sentiments  and  impressions 
throbbing  in  his  heart.  Many  historical  phenomena, 
many  prevailing  moral  convictions,  through  several 
generations,  many  social  structures  lasting  for  cen 
turies,  would  remain  unexplained  enigmas  if  con 
sidered  as  results  of  an  accident  or  of  blind  fatality, 


VI  PREFACE. 

and  if  the  reason  of  their  protracted  existence  were 
not  sought  as  having  deep  roots  in  human  nature, 
and  depending  from  certain  almost  absolute  laws 
regulating  the  general  historical  movement.  Some 
from  among  these  laws  will  be  subsequently  pointed 
out. 

The  variety  of  historical  phenomena  springing 
uninterruptedly  from  the  versatility  of  human  na 
ture,  explains  why  every,  even  the  most  extreme  idea 
or  conception  relating  to  the  social  organization,  can 
be  logically  developed  and  supported  in  opposite  ways, 
with  seemingly  powerful  and  conclusive  historical 
evidences  and  illustrations.  In  this  manner  absolu 
tists,  papists,  liberals,  democrats,  socialists,  can  with 
equal  force  and  profusion  draw  maxims  and  example* 
from  history,  that  inexhaustible  and  everliving  source. 
Therefore,  history  would  seem  to  be  a  chaotic  abyss 
filled  with  testimonies  alike  for  good  and  evil,  testi 
monies  by  which  both  can  be  justified,  and  their  right 
to  social  existence  established.  However,  it  is  not  so. 
In  consequence  of  the  above-mentioned  versatility  of 
man,  on  account  of  the  countless  passions  stirring  and 
urging  his  actions,  we  find  in  history  continual  ups 
and  downs,  vicissitudes  resulting  from  the  victory  of 
a  certain  principle,  tendency,  or  even  of  an  individual 
will,  over  that  of  few  or  many.  But  as  the  final  aim 
of  the  life  and  activity  of  every  single  individual  is 
the  real  or  fancied  amelioration  of  his  condition,  even 
if  to  reach  it  he  often  commits  violent  deeds,  or  is 
directed  by  a  gloomy  misconception  of  duties  towards 
himself  and  the  human  brotherhood,  in  the  same  way 


PREFACE. 


history  embraced  in  its  whole  gravitates  towards  a 
final  aim,  that  of  securing  every  man's  higher  de 
velopment.  This  development  consists  in  the  vic 
tory  of  human;  mental  and  social  liberty  —  his  abso 
lute  selfhood  —  over  transient  expediencies,  destroy 
ing  or  limiting  the  rights  of  all  for  the  sake  of  the 
few,  whatever  may  be  the  strength  and  momentary 
supremacy  of  the  like  expediencies. 

Keason  and  conscience  prevail  finally  in  history. 
From  all  this  apparently  discordant  clashing  of  forces 
struggling  for  duration  and  space,  there  arises  an  over 
ruling  accord,  marking  a  slow  but  uninterrupted 
progress,  leading  and  directing  the  ascension  of  the 
individual  into  the  ^higher  and  purer  regions  of 
humanity. 

History  is  the  record  of  the  doings  of  aggregate 
humanity,  and  not  only  of  her  so-called  types,  name 
them  conquerors  or  philosophers,  founders  of  religions 
or  of  empires.  History  embraces  the  life  of  all 
these  numberless  individuals  where  from  are  formed 
the  races,  the  nations,  the  people.  Uncounted 
drippings,  small  springs,  muddy  as  well  as  clear 
brooks  and  rivulets  form  the  mighty  stream  running 
for  thousands  of  miles.  So  various  actions  and  in 
centives,  external  or  from  within,  agencies  explained 
or  hidden  to  the  common  eye,  grandeur  and  weak 
ness,  shape  out  the  history  of  each  nation.  And  as 
the  streams  and  rivers  fill  the  abysses  of  the  ocean, 
so  these  single  histories  united  form  the  world-his 
tory  or  that  of  our  race. 

Judging  the  actions  of  an  individual,  it  is  fair  to 


PREFACE. 


account  for  his  position,  his  character,  his  past,  his 
individual  feelings,  his  moral  or  even  physical  powers  ; 
it  is  fair  to  have  in  view  the  incentives  acting  from 
without,  the  circumstances  and  elements  among 
which  he  moves  ;  the  same  rule  ought  to  be  applied 
in  judging  a  nation,  a  people.  The  Slavic  race  in 
general,  or  Kussia  in  particular,  ought  to  be  appre 
ciated  according  to  that  principle  of  common  justice. 
By  it  the  social  elements  existing  in  Kussia  are  to 
be  ascertained  and  their  validity  examined.  Then 
only  things  will  appear  in  their  true  light  ;  then  it 
will  be  found,  that  beyond  the  Autocracy  there  exists 
in  Eussia  a  people  with  a  destiny  reaching  beyond 
the  temporary  darkness  enveloping  it,  which  is  caused 
by  successive  exigencies  rather  than  by  everlasting 
historical  laws.  Not  the  ruling  power  or  the  existing 
government,  not  the  superior  strata  of  society,  con 
tain  the  promise  of  the  future.  The  people  alone  is 
its  bearer  ;  the  people,  the  present  lower  classes,  how 
ever  behind-hand  and  uncivilized  they  may  now  ap 
pear.  From  the  people  will  pour  out  a  current 
changing  the  actual  state,  breaking  its  encompassing 
form.  To  such  a  future  this  book  points. 

It  may  perhaps  fall  into  hands  of  some  acquaint 
ed  with  my  previous  writings,  and  to  those  I  am  in 
duty  bound  to  give  an  explanation.  They  are  aware 
that  not  for  the  first  time  the  destinies  of  the  Slavic 
race  and  of  Kussia,  form  the  subject  of  my  publica 
tions.  I  was  among  the  first  who  gave  to  the  con 
ception  of  Panslavism  a  scientific  and  historical  ex 
planation,  searching  therein  for  a  clew  to  the  appa- 


PREFACE.  IX 

rently  savage  and  aggressive  expansion  of  Russia. 
If  I  have  changed  my  point  of  view  concerning  the 
mode  by  which  Panslavism  is  to  fulfil  its  destinies, 
my  convictions  are  not  at  all  changed  as  to  the  essen 
tial  signification  of  the  Slavi  and  of  Russia  in  the 
great  family  of  nations.  Once  I  thought  that  auto 
cracy  would  be  the  great  and  luminous  beacon  in  this 
movement  ;  this  I  no  longer  believe.  In  this  con 
sists  the  change  of  my  convictions,  and  this  I  am 
about  to  explain. 

For  nearly  thirty  years  my  existence  was  agitated 
by  the  political  tempests  overwhelming  my  fatherland 
as  well  as  other  parts  of  Europe.  Thus  I  had  oc 
casion  to  do  as  much  as  any  for  ideas  and  individual 
convictions,  at  the  risk  of  my  neck,  not  to  mention 
worldly  losses  actually  sustained.  I  dearly  acquired 
the  right  to  act  independently  for  myself.  In  my 
youth  with  other  patriots,  I  took  an  active  part  in 
the  affairs  of  Poland,  the  country  of  my  birth.  After 
I  had  been  for  several  years  the  object  of  violent  in 
dividual  persecutions,  by  our  joint  efforts  was  effected 
the  insurrection  of  1S30-'31,  during  which  I  tried  to 
establish  the  republican  government,  and  whose  dis 
astrous  end  threw  me  upon  the  world  a  condemned 
exile.  Years  of  wandering  were  spent  in  Europe 
and  principally  in  Paris.  I  had  thus  an  opportunity 
to  mingle  on  a  large  scale  with  ideas  of  every  shade, 
and  men  of  all  opinions  ;  to  observe  and  judge  vari 
ous  events,  and  to  devote  my  time  to  social  and  his 
torical  studies.  A  revolution  in  my  mind  was  effect 
ed.  Analyzing  with  conscientious  scrutiny  the 


X  PREFACE. 

I 

causes  of  the  political  death  of  Poland,  I  lost  the 
faith  in  any  possibility  of  her  resurrection.  The 
destiny  of  the  Slavic  race,  dawning  now  on  the  hori 
zon,  could  not  depend  on  one  of  its  feeblest,  withered 
and  destroyed  branches.  Kussia  alone  represented 
the  Slavic  vitality  in  the  moving  complications  of 
Europe  and  of  the  Western  world.  Among  the 
various  reasons  of  the  destruction  of  Poland,  the 
most  deleterious  was,  the  utter  want  for  centuries 
of  any  centralizing  idea,  of  any  organized  and  direct 
ing  power.  Kussia's  growth  was  the  result  of  the 
existence  of  such  an  influence.  At  that  time  not 
only  political  theoreticians,  but  new  systems  aiming 
to  reform  society  in  its  foundations,  as  for  example 
that  of  the  St.  Simonians,  whose  conceptions  I  studied 
and  shared  ;  all  of  them  established  as  an  axiom  that 
society  ought  to  be  directed  by  a  supreme  will  em 
bodied  in  one  individual,  ruling  or  inspiring  the  rest. 
Thus  sprang  up  in  my  mind  the  fallacious  belief 
shared  with  many  others,  that  an  energetic  concen 
tration  of  power  was  an  absolute  necessity  for  the 
existence,  the  development  and  progress  of  society 
at  large  as  well  as  for  single  nations.  According  to 
such  a  notion,  civilization  was  to  be  spread  from 
above,  and  the  more  a  nation  was  behind-hand,  the 
greater  the  need  of  such  a  supreme  leader.  All  the 
political  as  well  as  social  schools  resounded  with  ex 
positions  about  the  necessity  of  organization,  to  be 
obtained  by  the  unity  of  direction.  The  more  my 
mind  was  overpowered  by  such  ideas,  the  deeper  I 
felt  the  curse  of  the  existence  of  an  exile,  rootless  on 


PREFACE.  XI 

a  foreign  soil ;  a  dejection  so  admirably  described  by 
Ballanche,  who  says  that  "man  has  not  the  choice  of 
his  fatherland  ;  but  if  he  exiles  himself  to  avoid 
living  under  institutions  disliked  by  him,  then  he  re 
mains  without  a  tie,  he  is  a  stranger  on  earth/'  The 
devotion  and  interest  felt  for  my  ancient  country 
became  wholly  superseded  by  my  interest  for  the 
whole  race,  of  which  Poland  was,  after  all,  rather  an 
insignificant  offshoot. 

For  the  last  thirty  years  all  general  historical 
studies,  as  well  as  the  philosophical  comprehension 
of  history,  were  directed  to  elucidate  the  character 
of  various  races,  and  their  bearing  on  the  affairs  of  the 
world.  To  the  distinct  characteristics  of  whole  races 
which  of  old  took  possession  of  Europe,  rather  than 
to  single  'nations,  were  traced  all  great  historical 
events  and  the  progressive  evolutions  of  civilization. 
Thus  originated  those  generalizations  introduced 
in  the  philosophy  of  history,  as  that  for  example 
of  German  civilization,  which  framed  out  the  whole 
political  and  intellectual  state  of  Europe  after  the 
downfall  of  the  Roman  world.  By  birth  a  Slavi,  I 
looked  around  to  see  where  was  alive  the  powerful 
trunk  of  my  race,  and  found  that  Russia  alone  repre 
sented  it.  Thus  originated  with  me  the  idea  of  Pans- 
la  vism.  Its  signification  is  the  union  of  disseminated 
Slavic  families — some  of  whom  vegetate  miserably 
under  the  foreign  dominion  of  the  Magyars,  Turks 
and  Germans,  into  a  homogeneous  whole,  around  one 
mighty  stock.  Panslavism  does  not  aim  to  give  laws 


Xll  PREFACE. 

to  Western  Europe,  but  only  not  to  receive  any  from 
her,  or  from  Ouralian  invaders. 

The  study  of,  and  devotion  to  the  great  truths  re 
vealed  by  Fourier,  nay,  his  personal  advice,  influenced 
powerfully  my  decision.  Whoever  has  read  his 
works,  knows  how  repeatedly  Fourier  points  to_  Russia 
and  even  to  a  Czar,  as  to  the  means  of  the  speediest 
realization  of  the  theory  of  association.  And  thus  I 
went  to  Russia  and  to  the  Czar. 

At  that  moment  the  Emperor  Nicholas  shone 
with  the  light  of  an  autocrat,  kindling  the  beacon  of 
civilization.  He  proclaimed  his  wish  to  evolve  it 
from  the  national  Slavic  genius.  To  such  a  focus 
converged  all  the  aspirations  of  the  Slavi,  from  the 
Elba,  the  Danube,  the  Carpathian  and  the  Balkan 
Mountains.  With  many  others,  I  was  dazzled  by  the 
apparent  brilliancy  of  the  aim,  and  became  consci 
entiously  a  believer  in  the  lofty  and  providential 
calling  of  Czarism.  For  several  years  I  was  in  a  posi 
tion  to  observe  its  nature,  its  action,  and  how  far  it 
could  fulfil  the  mission  which  in  my  ardent  imagina 
tion  and  wishes  I  assigned  to  this  supreme,  this  al 
most  superhuman  power.  Penetrating,  however, 
more  deeply,  not"  only  into  the  nature  of  the  man, 
but  into  that  of  the  institution  itself,  my  enthusiasm 
began  to  cool.  Still  I  strained  my  reason  to  hold  out, 
hoping  for  the  best.  One  by  one  the  scales  fell  from 
my  eyes,  and  finally  I  violently,  broke  the  voluntary 
chain,  retook  the  staff  of  the  exile,  and  with  it  my 
liberty. 

It  is  scarcely  worth  while  to  mention  the  showers 


PREFACE.  Xlll 

of  abuse  poured  on  me  from  various  quarters.  These 
never  have  impressed  me  and  never  can.  Acting 
under  the  dictates  of  conviction,  I  never  hesitated  to 
secede  from  an  idea,  or  change  a  route,  when  by  fol 
lowing  them  the  inward  harmony  of  conscience  could 
have  become  endangered.  Often  in  this  thorny  jour-' 
ney  have  I  had  the  sad  satisfaction  to  be  right,  to  be 
justified  by  events — notwithstanding  accusations  and 
recriminations.  Thus  years  previous  j^o  t^e  events 
of  1848,  in  one  of  my  writings  I  doubted  the  possi 
bility  of  Germany  becoming  easily  an  unit  ;  and  un 
til  the  present  time  events  have  confirmed  my  pre 
monitions.  Seceding  openly  eighteen  years  ago  from 
my  former  countrymen  and  co-exiles,  I  gave  as  rea 
son  the  utter  impossibility  of  the  reconstruction  of 
Poland,  especially  by  foreign  help  and  interference. 
There  is  not  yet  the  slightest  sign  on  the  horizon 
to  overthrow  my  assertions.  Neither  my  writings 
nor  my  acts  could  have  contributed  to  bring  forth 
this  result. 

-  A  homeless  wanderer  over  the  world,  I  reached 
America.  Here  my  once  youthful  aspirations  were 
reinvigorated.  I  found  a  partial  realization  of  that 
for  which  as  yet  Europe  vainly  craves.  From  these 
shores  I  cast  a  glance  on  the  past,  on  the  rockings  of 
the  European  world,  and  on  the  destinies  of  the  race 
from  which  I  descended,  on  those  bf  the.. country 
abandoned  forever. 

The  social  organization,  the  institutions  of 
America,  raise  her  into  the  higher  regions  of  humanity. 
How  long  will  it  be  before  Europe  follows  in  the  wake 


XIV  PREFACE. 

of  her  younger  sister  ?  Europe  must  still  traverse 
many  crises  ere  she  shall  free  herself  from  the  mental 
and  political  fetters  forged  by  centuries  as  long  as 
the  past  of  the  whole  race.  In  this  struggle  the 
special  group  of  the  Slavic  family  must  necessarily 
act  its  part.  The  present  book  aims  to  show  how 
in  the  future,  the  Slavi  may  harmonize  with  the 
eternal  laws  of  nature  and  the  general  destinies  of 
mankind.  All  the  European  races  and  nations,  which 
for  centuries  stood  prominent  in  history,  in  bloody 
struggles,  have  tried  their  hands  to  establish  social 
freedom  and  harmony.  Hitherto  their  efforts  have 
been  unsuccessful.  It  may  be,  that  the  Slavi,  who 
come  the  last,  who  have  suffered  and  suffer  the  most, 
will  give  a  more  propitious  lift  to  this  great  work, — 
which  heretofore^  as  regards  Europe,  has  been  like 
the  task  of  Tantalus. " 

THE  AUTHOR. 

NEW-YORK,  March,  1854. 


CONTENTS.  XV 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION 9 

CHAPTER  L 

CZABISM — ITS   HISTORICAL   ORIGIN  ...  37 

CHAPTER  IL 

THE   CZAR  NICHOLAS  .  .  .  .  .  .44 

CHAPTER  IH. 

THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT    ...       69 

CHAPTER   IV. 

THE   ARMY   AND   NAVY       .  „  .  .         80 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE   NOBILITY  .  '     .  .  V  .  .  Ill 

CHAPTER   VI. 

THE  CLERGY  .  -,,  .  .  .  .       125 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  BOURGEOISIE          .  .  .  .  .  .  187 

CHAPTER  VIIL 

THE   COSSACKS        .......       170 


XVI  CONTENTS. 


THE   REAL    PEOPLE,  THE 

CHAPTER  IX. 

PEASANTRY  SERFDOM 

PAGH 
180 

THE   RIGHTS   OF    ALIENS 

CHAPTER  X. 

AND   STRANGERS 

.     219 

THE   COMMUNE 

CHAPTER  XL 

226 

EMANCIPATION 

CHAPTER  XII. 

.     23?. 

MANIFEST   DESTINY       . 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

251 

APPENDIX.     .  ,289 


RUSSIA  AS  IT  IS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

THE  destinies  of  Europe,  and  of  the  ancient  world,  oscil 
late  between  liberty  and  absolutism :  and  Russia  at  pre 
sent  turns  the  scale  in  favor  of  the  partisans  of  the  past, 
and  against  the  apostles  and  Worshippers  of  a  political  antf 
social  disenthralment.  In  this  struggle  Russia,  on  the  one 
side,  presses  with  all  the  might,  possessed  by  an  autocracy, 
leading  the  cardinal  stem  of  a  mighty  and  numerous  race 
of  the  human  family.  Thus,  in  the  general  course  of 
events,  that  are  moving  and  shaking  the  world,  Russia 
represents  two  historical  elements :  that  of  the  arbitrary 
power  and  that  of  a  race.  As  a  race,  the  Russian  people 
has  its  distinct  characteristics,  prevailing  as  well  in  its 
history  as  in  its  internal  organism;  characteristics  un 
known,  misunderstood,  or  misrepresented.  The  following 
pages,  it  may  be,  will  contribute  to  throw  some  light  on 
questions  filling  out  the  foreground  on  the  world-scene. 

The  country,  the  people,  are  both  old  and  new.     Old, 
because  belonging,  as  a  race,  to  the  first  historical  peoplings 
of  Europe  ;  and  new,  because  in  its  outward  manifestation 
i* 


10  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

as  a  state,  Russia's  appearance  is  recent,  nay,  even  the 
last,  on  the  records  of  Europe. 

The  Russian  people  probably  occupied  a  great  part  of 
the  region  where  it  is  settled  now,  before  history  dawned 
upon  them.  It  is  the  region  belonging  to  the  Slavic  race, 
of  which  the  Russian  is  now  the  only  independent  repre 
sentative  among  the  other  states  and  nations.  The  his 
torical  origin  of  the  Russian  people  is  merged  in  the  dark 
ness  extending  over  the  origin  of  the  whole  race.  The 
same  mystery  surrounds  the  cradle  of  all  aboriginal  races 
and  primitive  nations  of  the  ancient  world. 

Numerous  and  various  are  the  hypotheses  built  up  and 
successively  destroyed,  concerning  the  original  and  primi 
tive  distribution  of  inhabitants,  over  the  European  conti 
nent.  It  is  beyond  the  limits  of  the  present  work,  how 
ever,  to  array  the  ethnographical,  ethnological,  legendary, 
traditional  and  historical  researches,  discoveries,  testi 
monies  or  assumptions,  concerning  the  first  races  or  fami 
lies,  who,  in  common  or  successively,  wandered  and  spread 
themselves  in  all  directions  throughout  Europe. 

Among  these,  number  the  Slavi.  Their  historical  cur 
rent,  as  generally  that  of  other  old  nations,  does  not 
spring  from  a  positive  epoch  or  spot,  at  once,  as  from  a 
tabula  rasa.  Every  historical  period  has  always  a  kind 
of  eponymus.  It  always  presupposes  a  long  and  dark 
lapse  of  time,  that  is  to  say,  some  pre-existing  world,  still 
closely  connected  to  the  succeeding  one. 

The  Slavic  race  stretches  back  to  the  common  cradle 
of  all  historical  races.  If  the  Pentateuch  is  to  be  accept 
ed  as  recording  the  distribution  of  the  human  family  over 
the  earth,  the  Slavi  claim  to  descend  from  Riphaat, 
through  Gomer,  grandson  of  Japhet,  as  the  Celts  issue 
from  Ascanaz,  the  Germans  from  Throgorma,  two  others 
of  the  Gomeriden.  The  sound  Rh,  vibrating  through  the 


INTRODUCTION.  1 1 

remotest  antiquity  in  regions  occupied  by  the  Slavi,  seems 
to  support  this  biblical  hypothesis.  Thus  Rha  is  the 
name  of  the  river  Wolga,  and  the  same  sound  is  to  be  met 
with  in  the  ancient  names  of  mountains  north  of  the  Danube, 
of  the  meotic  estuary,  and  of  the  Don,  as  Kamennol  poias, 
even  to  the  range  near  JULalaia  Zemblia.  If  Armenia  was 
the  point  wherefrom,  in  the  Phalegic  epoch,  the  races  emi 
grated,  those  who  turned  towards  the  north  or  west,  enter 
ed  probably  originally  the  passes  of  the  Caucasus,  whence 
they  continued  their  further  migrations.  To  these  regions, 
ethnology  retraces  their  roots  :  some  of  their  most  ancient 
legends  and  myths,  as,  for  example,  those  of  the  Asi,  the 
protoplasts  of  the  Germans,  point  to  the  east ;  and  myths 
and  legends  are  seldom  without  some  basis  of  truth.  The 
Slavi  on  their  way  to  Europe  seem  to  have  wandered 
north  and  south  of  the  Euxine,  leaving,  under  various  de 
nominations,  traces  of  their  passage.  North  the  Meotic 
Cymbri,  south  the  Eniochi,  Eneti,  called  by  ancient  wri 
ters  gens  antiquissima,  the  Paphlagonians,  those  sub- 
duers  of  the  horse,  and,  according  to  Strabo,  breeders  of 
the  mule,  are  claimed  by  some  historical  investigators,  as 
the  ancestors  of  the  Slavi.  At  any  rate,  antiquity  men 
tions  on  the  Lych  and  the  Termodontos  names  of 
tribes,  which  are  to  be  found  again  among  tribes  north  of 
the  Danube,  very  probably  towards  the  Don,  as  mentioned 
by  Herodotus.  Thus,  for  example,  the  Myriandini,  who, 
according  to  his  account,  refused  to  join  the  Scythians, 
when  invaded  by  Darius — reminding  them  that  they,  the 
Myriandini,  did  not  participate  in  the  Scythian  invaslejf£. 
of  Media  and  Asia  Minor.  According  to  the  thread  *&T 
the  Genesis,  the  Slavi,  following  the  Celts  and  Germans, 
would  thus  form  the  third  among  the  primitive  families 
of  Northern  Europe. 

The  modern  researches  of  ethnology,  establish  a  dif- 


12  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

ferent  filiation.  The  close  connection  of  the  Slavic  lan 
guage  with  the  Zend  and  Sanscrit,  places  the  Slavic  among 
the  prominent  members  of  the  Indo-European  family. 
Ethnologically,  it  became  the  sixth  immigrant  to  Europe, 
succeeding  the  Greek,  the  Latin,  the  Celtic,  the  German, 
and  the  Samogitian  or  Lithuanian  language.  Thus  the 
Slavi  would  have  formed  the  rear-guard  of  tribes  leaving 
Hindoo-Kosh  and  Parapomisus  for  their  distant  western 
home,  where  the  Slavi  finally  spread  themselves  more  ex 
tensively  than  any  of  those  races  immigrating  before 
them. 

The  learned  Denina  and  Adelung  in  some  measure 
suggest,  that  perhaps  the  Slavi  formed  the  aborigines  of 
Europe,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Wolga.  In  the  most 
remote  and  darkest  times,  these  regions  were  called  gen 
erally,  Scythian ; — but  Scythians,  even  of  a  less  obscure 
epoch,  those  of  Herodotus  and  of  the  classical  times,  seem, 
after  all,  not  to  have  represented  a. perfectly  distinct  race, 
or  even  tribe,  but  rather  a  confederation  of  various  in 
habitants  in  the  north  of  Europe ;  possibly  of  Slavic, 
German  or  Gethic,  Gothic,  or  even  Celtic  origin,  and  of 
various  Finnic  or  pure  Asiatic  interlopers.  In  a  more 
limited  sense  the  same  is  very  likely  the  Tsase  with  the 
generalization  called  by  the  writers  of  the  last  classical 
epoch — as,  for  example,  by  Ptolemy  and  others — the  Sar- 
mathian  one,  which  inherited  the  preceding  generalization, 
the  Scythian,  in  the  Ptolemean  geography.  If  there  be 
any  plausibility  in  Denina's  opinion,  the  Slavi  would  in 
consequence  have  claims  to  a  previous  occupancy,  being 
afterwards  conquered  and  encroached  upon  by  the  Celts 
and  Germans,  to  whom  they  taught  the  use  of  the  plough, 
peculiar  to  the  Slavic  race.  To  the  Eniochi,  the  Eneti, 
the  constellation  of  the  Ursa  Major  represented  the 
plough  in  the  heavens.  It  is  still  a  positive  and  as  yet 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

unexplained  historical  fact,  that  when  for  the  first  time 
history  reveals  the  Slavi  under  this  their  special  and 
generic  name,  both  along  and  beyond  the  Danube,  as  is 
testified  by  Jornandes,  then  by  Procopius  and  other  suc 
cessive  Byzantine  writers — together  with  the  name  of 
Slavi  is  mentioned  that  of  the  Antes  and  Veneti,  as  form 
ing  one  and  the  same  family.  But  Venetes  and  Anti  are 
mentioned  by  Caesar  more  than  five  centuries  before  in 
Armorica  or  French  Bretagne ;  and  even  in  the  Breton 
dialect  there  are  words  and  names  of  Slavic  meaning ;  and 
Slavic  influence,  at  any  rate,  is  to  be  traced  very  distinct 
ly  to  the  Weser  and  to  the  ancient  Vindelicia. 

Whatever  hypothesis  may  be  admitted  concerning  the 
Slavic  race  and  its  settlement,  either  according  to  the 
biblical  or  the  Indo-European  theory,  this  is  certain,  that 
the  Slavi  count  among  the  autochtone  families  of  Europe. 
Another  point  can  likewise  scarcely  be  contested,  that 
from  the  time  of  the  first  occupation — which  epoch  es 
capes,  and  probably  will  for  ever  escape  chronological  re 
search,  to  the  moment  of  historical  daybreak  upon  the 
Slavi — they  occupied  more  or  less  the  same  regions  where 
they  were  found  then,  and  which  they  occupy  now.  Be 
tween  the  Sava*  the  Drawa,  the  Wistula,  the  Danube,  the 
Euxine,  to  the  northern  slopes  of  the  Waldai  hills,  and 
to  the  Wolga,  is  their  primitive  and  incontestable  home. 
History  never  will  elucidate  how  far  they  extended  to  the 
furthermost  limits  of  Western  Europe, — where,  at  any 
rate,  they  were  overlaid  and  wholly  absorbed  by  other 
races.  Not  so,  however,  in  their  incontestable  patrimony. 
There,  although  overrun  for  long  centuries  by  Scythians 
or  Asiats,  then  by  G-eths,  by  Goths  as  at  the  epoch  and 
during  the  reign  of  Hermanric,  by  the  Huns  of  Attila,  by 
Bojan,  the  Awars,  the  Allans,  then  by  Magyars  and  their 
kindred  the  Turks  :  there  they  remained,  still  indestructi 


14  i:i>:  ;A    AS    IT    IS. 

ble,  and  outliving  all  these  submersions.  Their  innate 
natural  toughness  has  carried  them  victoriously  through, 
even  up  to  the  present  time,  as  in  Croatia,  Pannonia,  Ser- 
via,  etc. 

When  the  North  and  the  East  precipitated  themselves 
upon  the  ancient  world ;  when  tribes  and  peoples  rolled 
onwards  in  waves,  dislocating  and  displacing  the  old 
landmarks — and,  it  may  be,  even  some  centuries  previous 
to  that  precise  epoch — there  on  the  water-sheds  between  the 
Weser,  the  Elba,  the  Vistula,  as  well  as  between  the  Danube 
and  the  Sava,  was  carried  on  an  uninterrupted  struggle 
between  the  various  German  and  Slavic  populations,  for 
the  possession  of  these  lands.  Whatever  may  be  the  evi 
dences  brought  forward  by  German  writers,  the  question 
which  of  the  two,  as  regards  priority  of  time,  was  the 
rightful  possessor  of  the  contested  lands,  will  ever  remain 
a  point  at  issue.  If,  however,  the  Slavi  formed  the  third 
biblic  or  the  sixth  Indo-European  immigration,  then  ad 
vancing  towards  the  west,  they  must  have  run  against 
the  rear-guard  of  the  Germans  in  the  above-named  re 
gion — in  the  same  way  as  the  Germans  pressed  upon  the 
Celts  from  the  Schelde  to  the  Swiss  Alps — and  so  the 
conflict  began.  At  one  time  the  Germans,  at  another  the 
Slavi,  remained  the  masters  of  the  field,  strengthening 
themselves  in  their  occupation  of  the  country,  to  be  again 
overrun  or  expelled.  Thus,  about  the  epoch  of  the  final 
downfall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  the  contested  regions  were 
in  various  parts  occupied  by  Gothic  and  German  tribes, 
as  Vandals,  Bourgignons,  Longobards,  Lygians,  etc.,  as 
well  as  by  some  remains  of  the  Celts,  as,  for  instance, 
the  Boii.  During  their  stay — protracted  through  centu 
ries — on  the  Slavic  soil,  some  of  the  German  tribes  re 
ceived  their  name,  which  survives  to  the  present  time. 
Thus  the  Suevi,  who,  previously  to  the  time  of  Tacitus, 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

dwelt  probably  on  both  sides  of  the  Elba — and,  it  may  be, 
reached  to  the  Vistula — received  theirs.  The  name  of 
Sueve  has  no  root,  nor  any  origin  in  any  German  dialect. 
It  seems  to  be  derived  from  the  Slavic  Swoi,  that  is,  a 
man  in  his  own  right,  sui  juris.  Other  tribes,  as,  for  ex 
ample,  the  Lygians  (Germ.  Lygier),  were  wholly  destroyed 
in  the  conflict,  and  disappeared  at  a  very  early  period 
from  history.  Others  finally,  who,  like  the  Bourgignons, 
dwelt  for  a  long  time  on  the  Vistula,  where  at  present  is 
Lechia  or  Poland — in  their  progress  to  Gallia  or  France 
— brought  and  introduced  there  the  nasal  sound  on  en, 
unknown  to  Germans,  but  peculiar  to  the  Polish  branch 
o|  the  Slavi. 

When  the  Germans  advanced  to  Italy  and  Gallia,  and 
further,  when  the  dominion  of  Attila  was  broken,  the 
Slavi  filled  the  then  nearly  abandoned  lands,  particularly 
along  the  banks  of  the  Elba,  as  well  as  south  towards  the 
Adriatic.  During  the  time  of  Charlemagne  began  the  new 
conflict  between  the  adjoining  races.  For  centuries  it  was 
carried  on  along  the  whole  line,  with  a  fury  of  extermination 
scarcely  known  in  history,  and  especially  under  the  Im 
perial  houses  of  Saxony  and  Frankony.  In  the  south, 
notwithstanding  that  about  the  same  time  the  Magyars, 
an  Ouralian  tribe,  invaded  the  Slavic  country,  ravaging 
them,  as  well  as  southern  Germany  and  even  France, 
their  hereditary  toughness  enabled  them  better  to  resist 
this  conquest.  The  chroniclers  of  that  time  have  pre 
served  records  of  the  unbridled  fierceness  and  ferocity  of 
these  Asiatic  invaders,  who  finally  settled  in  Pannonia,  on 
the  top  of  several  conquered  Slavic  tribes.  Even  to  the 
present  time,  from  Bohemia  to  the  Cattaro  there  extends 
an  uninterrupted  chain  of  Slavic  populations.  In  the 
north  the  protracted  struggle  ended  partly  in  the  extermi 
nation  of  the  Slavi,  partly  in  their  Germanization  through- 


16  RUSSIA    AS   IT   IS. 

\ 

out  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  beyond  the  Elba  and  the 
Oder,  to  the  banks  of  the  river  Warta.  Nay,  it  may  be 
said,  that  the  struggle  was  never  interrupted.  Protes 
tantism  contributed  mightily  to  denationalize  the  Slavi  in 
these  regions,  and  the  contest  exists  still,  for  example,  on 
the  foot  of  the  Sudette  mountains  in  Silesia,  in  the  Duke 
dom  of  Posen,  on  the  Vistula  in  the  land  of  the  Caschou- 
ben.  But  now  it  has  acquired  a  more  humane  manifes 
tation  ;  the  remnants  indeed  of  the  Slavic  race  recede  and 
disappear  before  the  superiority  of  culture  introduced  by 
the  Germans,  together  with  their  ruling  and  prevailing 
political  nationality.  The  inhabitants  of  the  actual  king 
dom  of  Saxony,  as  far  and  even  beyond  Lnnebourg,  have 
been  once  Slavi.  Nearly  all  the  names  of  the  villages 
have  a  Slavic  root  or  termination  ;  the  names  of  the  ma 
nors  (burg,  castle)  where  thevconquerors  dwelt,  are  German. 

All  the  writers  and  chroniclers  of  the  mediaeval  epoch, 
beginning  with  the  Gothic  bishop  Jornandes,  speak  of  the 
Slavic  race  as  occupying,  in  an  uninterrupted  continuity, 
immense  regions  of  Europe.  It  would  be  an  easy  task 
to  array  quotations  in  numbers  numberless.  Roger  Bacon, 
that  giant  of  intellect  and  learning  of  this  epoch,  speaks  of 
the  Slavi,  Russians,  Muscovites,  as  extending  through 
"  immensa  spatia,"  down  south  and  towards  the  east ;  and 
further,  that  the  Slavic  language  was  then  spoken  by  the 
greater  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  Europe. 

At  an  early  period  likewise  in  the  mediaeval  epoch,  the 
Slavi,  probably  those  lying  south  of  the  Danube,  sub 
merged  Greece  and  the  peninsula  of  the  Morea,  giving  tc 
it  its  name,  from  More,  sea.  The  termination  of  many 
places,  mountains  and  rivers  in  ancient  Peloponnese,  are 
still  Slavic.  The  recent  researches  of  the  learned  Fall- 
merayer  prove  this  to  be  the  case  beyond  any  possible 
doubt. 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

As  mentioned  before,  the  Slavic  race  is  from  the  be 
ginning  recorded  in  history,  as  forming  three  cardinal 
branches,  viz  :  the  Yeneti  or  Vendi,  the  Antes,  and  the 
Slavi.  The  branch  of  the  Yeneti  penetrated  the  furthest 
towards  the  west  of  Europe,  and  it  is  her  fate  that  was 
principally  sketched  out  in  the  above  lines.  Some  of  the 
Slavic  historians  or  investigators  maintain  that  these  Ye 
neti  descend  from  the  branch  who  wandered  primarily 
from  Caucasus  to  Europe  south  of  the  Euxine.  Thus 
Eniochi,  Eneti,  Paphlagonians  of  Asia,  ancient  Yeneti  of 
Italy,  Yendi,  Yeneti,  Yinuli,  Lini,  Henyds,  Gwinyads, 
around  the  Sudetten  and  the  western  part  of  the  Crapack 
mountains,  on  the  Elba,  along  the  shores  of  the  Baltic 
down  to  the  Yistula,  are  one  and  the  same  family. 

Certain  it  is  that  the  Eniochi,  Eneti  of  Asia  disappear 
ed  therefrom  even  before  the  dawn  of  history,  and  are 
mentioned  only  "  pro  memoria "  in  its  earliest  records. 
The  Yeneti  of  Italy  mentioned  by  Cato,  Livy,  etc.,  as 
"  gens  antiquissima"  are  the  descendants  of  the  Eniochi, 
and  in  their  turn  protoplasts  or  brothers  of  the  northern 
Yendi.  Whatever,  however,  may  be  the  origin  of  the 
Slavic  Yendi,  it  is  a  great  and  unpardonable  confusion, 
committed  principally  by  some  recent  English  ethno- 
graphs  and  ethnologists,  to  mistake  them  for  the  Yan- 
dals,  Yandalians — so  terribly  famous  in  the  destruction 
of  the  Roman  Empire.  These  Yandals  have  been  of  Grer- 
man  or  Gothic  origin,  and  the  confusion  arises  from  the 
fact  that  they  first  appeared  dwelling  for  a  certain  time 
on  the  Yistula,  and  advanced  continually  through  Slavic 
regions  towards  the  south  of  Europe.  But  the  Yandals, 
before  they  reached  Italy  were  already  Christians  and 
Arians.  Thus  their  difference  of  creed  with  the  Trinitar 
ians  or  Catholics,  was  the  principal  reason  of  the  atrocities 
put  to  their  account;  as  their  ferocity  was  principally 


18  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

shown  in  the  destruction  of  Catholic  churches,  above  all  in 
Africa.  At  that  time  the  Venden,  like  all  the  Slavi,  were 
still  pagans,  nature  worshippers,  having  consecrated  groves 
and  forests,  fountains  and  streams.  Their  mythology  was 
an  embodiment  of  the  elements  of  nature,  and  there  are 
no  traces  among  the  Slavi  of  human  or  animal  sacrifices. 

The  Antes,  who  at  the  time  of  Jornandes,  Procopius, 
etc.,  were  living  along  the  Danube,  covered  the  same 
country  which  they  occupy  now.  Probably  they  extended 
north  to  the  Dniester  and  Dnieper,  mixing  there  with  the 
branches  of  the  third  principal  stock  or  the  Slavi  proper. 

Wherever  any  of  the  Slavic  families  are  met  with  in, 
or  discovered  through,  history,  they  invariably  appear  as 
fixedly  settled,  as  agriculturists.  Living  in  villages  and 
forming  thus  communities.  Very  likely  the  (<  Scythes 
Agricol^"  along  the  Dnieper,  quoted  by  Herodotus  in  op 
position  to  the  nomadic  Scythes,  were  Slavic  tribes  of  the 
Scythian  confederacy.  If  there  be  a  positive  Scythic 
family  in  history,  it  must  be  of  Ouralian  stock.  Neither 
does  this  stock,  nor  any  of  its  branches,  ever  appear  to 
have  been  originally  devoted  to  agriculture.  Neither  as 
Huns,  Alans,  Tartars,  Turkomans,  Kalmucks  or  Mag 
yars. 

The  Emperor  Mauritius  towards  the  end  of  the  sixth 
century,  describes  the  Slavi  as  beipg  eminently  agricultur 
ists.  German  writers  acknowledge  that  the  Slavi  taught 
to  the  Germans  both  agriculture  and  horticulture.  At  any 
rate,  the  name  of  the  plough,  Pflug  in  German  (Plug  be 
ing  the  real  Slavic  name)  is  of  pure  Slavic  origin.  The 
respective  characteristics  of  the  two  races  as  mentioned 
by  various  historians,  support  the  above  inference  in  favor 
of  the  Slavi.  The  primitive  Germans  were  seldom  tillers 
of  the  soil,  but  more  generally  roving  and  predatory  tribes. 
Caesar,  and  above  all  Tacitus,  describes  them  as  such, 


INTRODUCTION.  i9 

"  Nor  are  they  so  easily  induced  to  till  the  earth  or  to 
await  the  harvest,  as  to  plunge  into  the  midst  of  enemies 
and  wounds.  They  esteem  it  base  indeed  to  seek  through 
labor  what  they  can  obtain  by  bloodshed,  etc."  Quite 
the  opposite,  however,  are  the  characteristics  of  the  Slavi, 
who  often  were  overrun  and  subjugated,  but  never,  or  at 
least  very  seldom,  became  invaders.  When  they  over 
ran  Greece,  the  Byzantine  Emperors  directed  them  there. 
The  Slavi  seem  to  have  been  likewise  the  great  traders 
and  carriers  of  goods  in  very  remote  times,  from  the  Bal 
tic  and  the  north,  to  the  Adriatic  and  Black  Sea.  Settled 
rather  than  nomadic  populations  devote  themselves  to 
trade.  The  trader  wandering  to  distant,  sometimes  un 
known  countries,  does  not  take  with  him  wife  and  family, 
neither  could  he  leave  them  behind  in  a  state  of  insecurity. 
Thus  fixed  settlements  and  an  organised  state  of  society 
are  to  be  presupposed  with  a  trading  population,  and  even 
as  giving  birth  to  it.  Such,  therefore,  were  the  Slavi. 
The  commerce  in  amber  and  other  productions  of  the  north 
was  carried  to  Italy  by  the  Veneti,  Yenden.  Rich  and 
populous  cities  are  mentioned  in  their  regions  at  a  time 
when  nothing  of  the  kind  of  autochtone  foundation  existed 
among  the  Germans.  Thus,  for  example,  the  city  of  Wi- 
neta,  on  the  west  of  the  Island  of  Usedom,  in  Pommern,  a 
country  totally  germanized,  but  whose  name  still  shows 
its  Slavic  origin,  being  derived  from  Po-more,  along  the 
sea. 

This  city  Wineta  is  described  as  having  paved  streets, 
temples  with  brazen  doors  and  gates,  and  as  being  the  em 
porium  of  the  Baltic  trade.  At  that  very  distant  epoch, 
and  in  a  region  so  remote  from  the  centre  of  civilization, 
then  gathered  around  the  Mediterranean,  cities  could  not 
spring  up  as  though  evoked  by  some  magic  spell,  but  long 
years,  if  not  centuries,  went  to  work  slowly  to  raise  and  fill 


20  RUSSIA    AS    IT   IS. 

them  with  industry  and  wealth.  Among  the  whole  Slavic 
family,  the  Russian  people  alone  preserved  most  eminently 
until  even  to  the  present  day,  this  characteristic  feature ; 
being  still  among  the  best  traders  of  Europe. 

What  the  Veneti  were  westwards,  the  Slavic  tribes  (call 
ed  the  Slavi),  were  northeastwards  in  Europe  ;  quiet  agri 
culturists  at  the  earliest  period.  The  necessity  of  providing 
for  subsistence  in  that  rough  climate,  pointed  to  this  even 
more  absolutely.  In  general,  the  preeminent  toughness  of 
the  Slavi,  their  resistance  and  the  final  overcoming  of  va 
rious  conquests  and  submissions  to  other  tribes  and  popu 
lations,  during,  it  may  be,  thirty  centuries  :  can  principally 
be  explained  by  the  fact — that  the  invaders,  mostly  of  Asi 
atic  descent,  and  of  roving  nomadic  mode  of  life,  found 
a  rather  sedentary  people,  which  could  neither  Itte  expelled, 
destroyed  or  absorbed,  on  account  of  its  intimate  commu 
nion  with  the  soil,  and  the  consequent  virtuality.  In  the 
West,  germanization  operates  principally  through  expro 
priation. 

The  north  or  northeast  of  Europe,  where  Russia  proper 
now  is,  was  occupied  at  a  distant  period  by  that  branch 
of  the  race  which  in  all  probability  gave  the  name  of  the 
Slavi  to  the  whole  stock.  Philologists  derive  this  name 
from  Slowo,  verb,  or  Slawa,  glory.  Putting  aside  these 
dissertations  about  the  origin  of  the  name,  we  need  only 
observe  that  its  origin  and  existence  in  these  regions  is 
incontestible.  According  to  all  probability,  the  branch 
of  the  family  carrying  the  verb,  the  Slowo,  immigrating 
from  the  Caucasus  north  of  the  Terek,  of  the  Black 
sea,  took  possession  of  the  land :  from  the  meotic  estuary, 
between  the  Dnieper  and  the  Wolga  up  to  the  common 
source  of  both  these  rivers  in  the  heights  of  Woldai,  called 
also  the  Wolkonski  forest,  or  that  of  the  wolf  and  the 
horse  ( Wolk,  wolf,  Kon,  horse).  On  those  heights,  around 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

the  lakes  of  Ilmen,  Starai-Russa  (old  Russia,)  Peypus, 
and  others,  near  the  banks  of  the  river  Wolchowa,  this 
tribe  seems  to  have  established  itself,  as  its  principal  seat. 
A  quiet  hospitable  people,  probably  the  hyperboreans 
of  the  classical  world,  the  Arymaspi,  Arymphcei  of  Pliny, 
Pausanias,  Ammian  Marcellin,  etc.  There  the  dawn  of  the 
mediaeval  epoch  found  wealthy,  populous  and  powerful  re 
publics  and  commercial  cities,  such  as  Novgorod  and  Pskoff. 
There  too  are  places  called  Slawlanskia  Kliutschy,  Slavic 
sources.  The  name  of  Novgorod,  ancient  as  it  is,  pre 
supposes  the  existence  of  another  city,  more  ancient  still, 
Novgorod  signifying  new  town.  The  legend  attributing 
the  foundation  of  Novgorod  to  dissatisfied  amazons,*  con 
firms  the- supposition.  Novgorod  was  the  most  flourishing 
city  in  Northern  Europe  when  darkness  covered  the  rest 
of  it.  To  Novgorod,  Danish  princes  were  sent  by  their 
parents,  to  be  educated  and  find  wives.  Trade  flourished 
there  from  the  remotest  times.  It  was  the  great  thorough 
fare  between  the  North  and  Asia.  From  the  bays  of  the 
Baltic,  through  Lake  Ladoga,  the  river  "Wolchow  to 
Novgorod,  Lake  Ilmen  or  Staraie-Russy,  Petschory, 
through  the  lakes  of  Peypus,  Grdoff,  the  river  Welikai'a 
to  Pskoff,  then  through  the  Volga,  and  her  tributaries, 
the  land  of  the  Permians,  the  Kama,  through  the  Don 
and  Dnieper  to  the  Black  sea,  to  Colchis,  Trebizonde,  an.d 
through  the  Caspian,  reaching  the  Armenians,  the  Persians, 
and  the  Hindoos. 

All  these  regions  formed  the  cradle  of  the  present 
Russian  Empire.  With  these  republics  Russian  his 
tory  begins.  The  chief  fact  of  this  historical  epoch  is 
the  Northman  establishment,  and  the  extension  of  their 
dominion  in  the  course  of  about  half  a  century,  from  Nov- 

*  See  appendix  A. 


22  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

gorod  along  the  Dwina,  and  the  Dnieper  down  to  Kiieff, 
where  the  capital  was  established,  and  shortly  afterwards 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Borysthenes  into  the  Black  sea.  The 
establishment  of  the  Northmen  in  Novgorod  and  Pskoff  was 
no  conquest.  Ruryk  and  his  followers  were  called  in  peace- ' 
fully  by  the  Novgorodians,  who  were  quarrelling  among 
themselves,  rather  to  administer  than  ^  rule  them.  No 
thing  was  changed  in  the  old  republican  organization.  The 
followers  of  Ruryk  were  not  numerous,  and  could  not — as 
some  historians  maintain — have  exerted  a  powerful  influ 
ence,  or  modified  or  changed  the  character  and  the  physi 
ological  features  of  the  autochtones.  This  Scandinavian 
influx  was  on  the  surface,  but  neither  the  blood,  the  cus 
toms,  the  manners,  nor  the  language  were  affected  by 
it.  The  Northmen  did  not  mix  with  the  people  at  large, 
and  their  descendants  are  the  Kniazia,  the  princes,  and 
some  few  other  noble  families  of  Russia.  With  the  grand-  * 
son  of  Ruryk,  the  Northmen  feature  wholly  disappears, 
being  absorbed  by  the  Slavic  virtuality.  The  names  of 
the  W'ieliki  Kniaz^s,  Grand  Dukes,  became  Slavic,  and 
the  grandson  of  Ruryk  had  to  be  presented  by  his  uncle 
to  the  Boyars  and  the  people  of  Kii'eff  in  the  forum  or 
market-place  of  the  city,  ploschtschad,  to  be  accepted  by 
their  common  consent  as  their  sovereign  ruler.  The  old 
est  Slavic  and  Russian  epic,  called  the  "  Song  of  the  Band 
of  Igor,"  (piesn  o polkie  Igorowym,)  describing  the  feats 
of  this  follower  and  successor  of  Ruryk,  is  purely  Slavic, 
as  well  in  language  as  in  form. 

Kiieff  became  the  centre  of  the  new  growing  Empire, 
Novgorod  and  Pskoff  remaining  Republics  for  several  cen 
turies,  up  to,  indeed,  the  end  of  the  fifteenth.  In  the  tenth 
and  eleventh  centuries,  Kiieff  was  the  most  splendid  and 
luxurious  city  north  of  the  Alps.  It  was  a  Capua  for  Poles 
who  came  there  as  conquerors.  The  monks,  and  architects 


INTRODUCTION.  23 

of  that  epoch,  constructed  churches  in  imitation  of  St.  So 
phia,  and  other  edifices.  Henry  the  First,  of  France,  mar 
ried  Helena,  a  Russian  princess,  and  thus,  at  this  distant 
epoch,  the  Capets  became  connected  with  the  Grand 
Dukes.  Their  conquests  were  extended  from  Kiieff ;  near 
and  distant  tribes  were  overcome  and  subdued,  as,  for  ex 
ample,  the  Polowtse,  the  Pietschyngi,  the  Ongry  (a  branch 
of  the  Magyars,)  etc.  From  Dwina  to  Kiieff,  as  well  as  far 
eastwards  in  the  interior,  reaching  to  Moscow  itself  in  the 
course  of  time,  small  principalities  were  now  founded  for 
the  progeny  of  the  reigning  Grand  Dukes,  and  thus  arose 
that  division  which  proved  afterwards  so  fatal,  in  facilita 
ting  the  conquest  by  the  Tartars.  The  dominion  and  the 
parceling  extended  westwards  to  the  Carpathians,  and  the 
present  Galicia  formed  one  of  the  divisions.  From 
Kiieff,  at  that  distant  period  even,  the  Greek  Empire  and 
Byzantium,  were  invaded,  attacked,  and  stormed. 

As  the  Republics  of  Novgorod  and  Pskoff  gave  birth 
to  the  Empire,  it  is  clear  that  liberty  and  the  commune 
were  anterior  to  monarchical  power/'that  is,  to  autocracy,  to 
political  or  social  enslavement.  Freedom  and  a  kind  of 
self-government,  in  Russia  as  well  as  in  other  Slavic  re 
gions,  were  the  source  of  social  order.  The  remotest  tra 
ditions  of  the  Bohemians,  Poles  and  Russians,  as  well  as 
the  political  habits  of  the  southern  Slavi  preserved  to 
more  recent  times,  never  point  to  hereditary  power,  to  ab 
solute  rulers,  or  to  castes  and  nobility.  Every  where,  the 
chiefs  were  elected  from  and  by  the  people,  without  regard  to 
their  birth,  their  mode  of  life  or  occupation.  Thus  legend 
and  tradition  show  a  ploughman  raised  to  the  supreme 
dignity  among  the  Tschcchs ;  in  Poland  Piast,  a  wheel 
wright  was  chosen,  and  from  him  issued  a  long  line  of 
kings,  a  line,  however,  which  became  extinct  in  the  male 
descent  in  the  fourteenth,  and  in  the  female  in  the 


24  RUSSIA   AS    IT    IS. 

sixteenth  century.  In  Bohemia,  as  well  as  in  Poland, 
tradition  names  a  Leshko,  a  Samo,  a  merchant,  and  a 
jeweller,  elected  as  chiefs.  Through  the  whole  Slavic 
race,  kings,  princes  and  nobility,  are  creations  of  the 
secondary  epoch,  and  can  be  traced  out  chronologically. 
From  the  elders  in  a  commune  sprang  the  nobles ;  they 
and  the  princes  appear  for  the  first  time  in  the  internal  or 
external  troubles  and  wars.  But  still  the  ancient  liberties 
and  free  election,  were  preserved  in  some  way  or  other. 
Thus  the  Cossacks,  a  genuine  Slavic  shoot,  continued  to 
elect  their  military  commanders  and  chiefs  up  to  the  pre 
sent*  century.  The  Hussites  of  Bohemia  extended  the 
iden  of  partial  religious  liberty — imported  to  Prague  from 
England  or  Savoy — in  a  struggle  for  social  and  politi 
cal  emancipation,  and  thus  they  were  the  predecessors  of 
the  Puritans,  the  Independents',  and,  politically  at  least, 
as  radical  as  the  others.  Ziska's  hatred  of  princes  and 
nobles  is  recorded  in  history.  Jean  of  Rokitsany,  one  of 
the  Hussitian  leaders,  promulgated  from  the  castle  of 
Prague  a  political  magna  charta,  whose  principal  purport 
was,  the  abolition  of  royalty  and  family  privileges.  The 
nobility  of  Poland,  even  after  having  absorbed,  at  a  very 
early  period,  all  the  political  life  and  power  belonging  to 
the  people  and  the  nation — having  in  the  course  of  time 
enslaved  the  peasantry  and  destroyed  the  franchises  of 
the  burghers ; — still,  herself,  as  a  political  body,  remained 
faithful  to  the  traditions  of  liberty  and  equality.  The 
vstate  was  always  called  a  republic,  and  all  the  nobles  were 
absolutely  equal.  Titles  and  all  similar  distinctions,  are 
of  a  more  recent  and  foreign  introduction.  Royalty 
was,  in  principle,  an  elective  dignity,  even  during  the 
hereditary  lineages  of  the  Piasts  and  the  Jagellons ;  and 
every  nobleman,  the  richest  or  the  poorest,  could  pretend 
to  it.  The  thus  celebrated  "  liberum  veto  "  (the  veto  of 


INTRODUCTION.  25 

the  free),  which  gave  to  every  nobleman,  or  at  least  to 
any  member  of  the  diet,  the  right  to  suspend  and  to  anni 
hilate  all  the  acts  of  a  session,  by  the  single  word  niepoz- 
walam,  l- 1  don't  allow  it,"  was  looked  upon  by  the  nobil 
ity  or  body  politic,  as  a  unicum  et  specialissimum  jus 
cardinale  (or  unique  and  special  cardinal  right).  What 
ever  may  be  the  merits  of  such  usage,  and  without  deny 
ing  its  mischievious  and  fatal  influence  on  the  destiny 
of  Poland,  it  remains  as  an  historical  evidence  of  a  notion 
of  political  equality  reaching  the  utmost  limits  of  an  or 
ganized  body. 

In  Russia,  that  is  in  the  hereditary  possessions  found 
ed  by  the  Grand  Dukes  of  Kiieff,  political  liberty  very 
soon  expired.  However,  it  never  disappeared  from  among 
the  people  as  a  normal  communal  organisation,  even  when 
they  became  wholly  enslaved.  In  the  course  of  ages,  on 
the  ruins  of  ancient  freedom,  a  vast  monarchy  was  created 
and  consolidated — hewn  out  by  means  and  courses  common 
to  the  like  historical  formations.  Russian  history  is  a  terrible 
tale  of  blood,  and  of  almost  superhuman  labors  and  toils. 
In  all  struggles,  in  the  most  fearful  national  cataclysms 
Russia  has  gone  through,  she  was  always  supported  by  her 
own  resources  ;  and  assisted  herself  out  of  several  abysses 
without  any  state  or  nation  having  extended  to  her  a  help 
ing  hand.  Isolated  and  surrounded  on  all  sides  bmene- 
niies,  she  relied  absolutely  upon  herself.  Thus  after  more 
than  250  years,  she  overcame  the  Tartar  dominion ;  and 
when  towards  the  end  of  the  15th  century,  Iwan  Wasile- 
witch  the  G-reat,  finally  liberated  his  country,  then  first 
only  did  England  and  other  European  states  congratulate 
him  and  ask  for  his  alliance.  In  the  same  way  nobody 
assisted  the  Russian  nation  to  reconquer  its  independence 
in  the  beginning  of  the  17th  century. 

There  is  one  feature  in  which  the  growth  and  exten- 
2 


26  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

sion  of  Russia  differs  from  that  of  almost  every  other 
European  state.  She  extended  herself  principally  over 
aboriginal  regions,  conquering  and  establishing  her  do 
minion  over  kindred  populations,  and  branches  issuing  from 
the  same  stock  with  herself.  Never  did  she  imitate  the 
Goths  in  subjugating  the  Iberians,  or  the  Longobards  es 
tablishing  themselves  on  the  necks  of  the  Italians,  or  the 
Franks  in  subduing  Gauls,  Goths,  Bretons,  etc.  ;  or  the 
Saxons,  Danes,  Normans  in  imposing  themselves  on  the 
primitive  Britons  as  well  as  successively  on  each  other ; 
nor  the  result  of  this  conglomerate,  the  English,  in  conquer 
ing  the  Gael-Scot,  and  the  Celto-Irish.  Russian  conquests 
over  foreign  races  are  comparatively  few  compared  with  the 
whole  ;  insignificant  in  themselves,  they  are  limited  to  the 
outskirts  of  the  grand  Slavic  domain.  The  Baltic  provinces 
being  a  mixture  of  native  remains  of  the  Finns,  together 
with  a  small  sprinkling  of  German  conquerors,  never  really 
enjoyed,  and  never  could  claim,  an  independent  existence. 
The  two  real  foreign  conquests  are  Finland,  the  Cauca 
sian  and  Transcaucasian  regions.  The  protracted  strug 
gle  with  the  mountaineers  of  the  Caucasus,  called  gene 
rally  Circassians,  cannot  be  considered  as  just  or  unjust  in 
itself. 

It  is  a  cruel  necessity,  deplored  throughout  the  whole 
empire,  in  St.  Petersburgh  as  well  as  by  all  ardent  Circas- 
sophiles.  Its  origin  can  be  traced  as  far  back  as  the  Xth 
century,  when  Swatoslaw,  one  of  the  Grand  Dukes  of 
Kiieff  seized  upon  the  ancient  kingdom  of  the  Bosphorus. 
In  the  16th  century  Iwan  Wasilewitch,  Grand  Duke  of 
Moscow,  after  having  put  an  end  to  the  Tartar  dominion 
over  Russia,  invaded  the  Oriental  region  of  the  Caucasus, 
establishing  military  posts  all  along  the  Caspian  sea.  In 
1594  Alexander,  King  of  Georgia,  recognised  the  suprem 
acy  of  the  Sovereigns  of  Moscow  in  order  to  find  protec- 


INTRODUCTION  27 

tion  with  them  against  the  invasions  of  the  Tartars  and 
Mongols.  Towards  the  end  of  the  1 8th  century,  Heraclius, 
King  of  G-eorgia,  menaced  by  the  Turks  and  Persians,  sign 
ed  a  treaty,  by  which  every  sovereign  of  this  country  was  to 
be  a  vassal  of  the  Russian  Czars,  and  finally,  in  the  year 
1800,  the  widow  of  Heraclius  ceded  to  them  all  her  rights 
and  lands,  and  by  a  ukase,  published  by  Paul,  Georgia 
became  incorporated  into  the  Russian  Empire.  The  Cau 
casian  mountains  lie  between  the  two,  and  consequently 
the  mountaineers  are  able  to  continually  interrupt  the 
communication  between  Russia  and  Georgia.  It  is  the 
same  as  if  the  Indians  should  concentrate  along  the  Rocky 
Mountains  and  thence  invade  and  extend  their  depredations 
over  California,  Oregon  and  the  Western  States.  It 
looks  now  like  a  war  of  extermination,  whose  final  end  is 
not  easy  to  be  foreseen. 

Thus,  if  ever  a  nation  was  nursed  and  cradled  in  wars, 
it  was  Russia,  some  of  them  even  menacing  the  de 
struction  of  her  national  independent  existence.  Slow  and 
difficult  were  her  first  steps,  at  an  epoch  when  the  whole 
of  Europe,  as  well  as  her  surrounding  neighbors,  were 
powerful,  organized  states,  which,  during  the  days  of  her 
weakness  and  prostration,  cut  off  and  secured  to  them 
selves  large  slices  of  her  patrimony.  But  the  more  Rus 
sia  approached  the  hour  of  her  political  manhood,  the  more 
her  progress  became  accelerated.  She  is  now,  indeed, 
more  strongly  cemented  and  more  cohesive  than  is  sup 
posed  or  admitted  by  many  politicians  and  writers. 

At  the  first  census  made  by  Peter  the  Great,  in  the 
first  half  of  his  reign,  the  population  of  Russia  amounted 
to  above  nine  millions.  That  of  Poland,  at  that  time, 
was  about  fourteen  millions.  Sweden,  with  the  posses 
sions  on  the  southern  Baltic  shores,  as  Pomerania,  part 
of  Livonia  and  Esthonia,  about  six  millions ;  in  the  South 


28  RUSSIA    AS    IT   IS. 

the  Tartars  kept  Kazan,  Azoff,  Crimea,  and  being  then 
the  tributaries  of  the  Sultan,  formed  with  the  whole  Otto 
man  Empire  a  mass  outnumbering  the  Russians  at  least 
three  times.  And  now  Sweden  is  crippled,  Poland  is  no 
more,  and  the  death-knell  is  booming  over  Turkey.  By 
a  turn  of  eVents,  unparalleled  in  history,  Russia  not  only 
reconquered  from  her  neighbors  her  ancient  possessions 
lost  for  centuries ;  but  broke  them  down  successively  one 
by  one.  The  struggle  with  Poland  lasted  for  nearly  as 
many  centuries  as  they  can  count  for  their  political  exist 
ence.  In  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries  the  Poles  con 
quered  Kiieff,  then  the  seat  of  the  Empire.  During  the 
Tartar-  dominion,  the  Lithuanians  conquered  several  prin 
cipalities  west  and  south  of  the  Russians  and  Tartars ;  and 
when  Lithuania  became  united  with  Poland  in  the  14th 
and  15th  centuries,  Kiieff  and  south  Russia,  became 
Polish  dependencies.  In  the  beginning  of  the  17th  cen 
tury  the  Poles  entered  Moscow,  twice  establishing  a  short 
domination  over  the  whole  Empire.  The  Russian  Czars, 
the  Schuyskis,  died  in  a  Polish  fortress,  and  the  founder 
of  the  present  Imperial  dynasty,  Feodor  Romanoff  was 
for  several  years  a  prisoner  in  Warsaw.  But  then  in  that 
same  century  the  wheel  of  fortune  turned  very  strangely. 
Sobieski  signed  the  first  treaty  by  which  Poland  began  to 
yield  to  Russia  and  give  up  whole  territories.  Kiieff  was 
lost.  Then  Russia  availed  herself  of  the  internal  dissen 
sions,  tearing  the  old  Polish  Republic.  The  unbounded 
pride  of  some  of  the  eminent  Polish  families  called  forth 
and  introduced  into  Poland,  Russian  influence  and  Rus 
sian  armies.  Religious  intolerance,  the  persecution  of 
the  Protestants  (called  dissidents,)  as  well  as  of  the  Schis 
matics  or  members  of  the  Eastern  church,  totally  weak 
ened  Poland,  and  so  Russia  became  the  mistress  of  large 
and  warlike  regions. 


INTRODUCTION.  29 

The  Polish  nobility,  as  an  exclusively  ruling  body, 
never  acted  under  the  impulse  of  elevated  statesmanlike 
foresight  and  conceptions.  In  this  they  differed  totally 
from  the  Venetian  or  English  aristocracy.  Few  of  the 
Polish  kings  were  real  statesmen,  and  their  efforts  and 
aims  were  mostly  paralyzed  by  the  unruliness  %f  the  no 
bility.  Thus  in  the  14th  century,  Casimir  the  Great, 
called  "  rex  rusticorum,  (the  King  of  the  peasants,)  vainly 
tried  to  prevent  the  final  enslavement  of  the  peasantry  by 
the  rapacious  nobles.  In  the  15th  century,  Casimir  Jag- 
ellon,  called  by  the  German  and  Italian  writers  of  that 
epoch  the  greatest  sovereign  and  statesman  of  his  age, 
was  continually  wrangling  with  his  subjects  for  action 
and  power.  The  same  was  the  case  with  Stephen  Batory, 
and  with  Wladislas  IVth  of  the  house  of  Vasa,  the  last 
statesman  on  the  Polish  throne.  The  reckless,  ungovern 
able,  and  politically  egoistical  spirit  of  the  nobility  des 
troyed  Poland  beyond  recovery,  and  caused  her  death. 
In  all  other  respects  she  was  brave  and  chivalrous  beyond 
limit,  generous  and  pure  as  any  other  nation  whatever,  in  her 
manners,  customs  and  domestic  life.  The  Polish  nobility, 
from  the  first  moment  of  their  political  existence,  appear 
as  most  jealous  of  the  privileges  of  caste,  destroying 
political  life  in  all  other  parts  of  the  nation.  After  having 
enslaved  the  people  or  peasants,  they  deprived  the  burgh 
ers  and  the  cities  of  their  political  franchise.  In  the  XVIth 
century  the  deputies  of  cities  were  finally  and  forever 
expelled  from  the  assemblies  of  the  national  Diet.  By 
and  by  the  cities  fell  to  ruins ;  with  the  loss  of  freedom 
life  fled  from  them;  neglected  by  the  ruling  nobility, 
the  Polish  burgher  grew  poorer  and  poorer,  trade  and  in 
dustry  passed  away  from  his  hands.  Foreign  colonists, 
principally  German,  began  to  be  introduced,  who  could 
lay  no  claim  to  the  political  franchise.  Thus  the  once  genu- 


30  RUSSIA    AS   IT   IS, 

ine  Polish  cities  began  to  be  overflown  with  foreigners 
and  Jews,  trade  and  industry,  even  the  most  trifling,  dis 
appearing  into  the  hands  of  strangers.  Thus,  even  now,  all 
handicraftsmen  whatever  :  shoemakers,  smiths,  carpenters, 
masons,  etc.,  are  still  Germans.  Burghers  could  not  pos 
sess  landed^ estates,  neither  be  admitted  to  any  civil  ser 
vice;  in  the  ecclesiastical  hierarchy  they  scarcely  rose 
above  the  position  of  a  curate.  The  Jews  were  the  mani 
pulators  and  brokers  in  trade,  the  nobility  selling  to  for 
eign  exporters  the  grain  and  other  gross  produce  of  the 
soil,  receiving  in  exchange  the  necessities  of  a  luxurious 
life,  and  careless  of  creating  any  industrial  produc 
tions  at  home.  Thus  disappeared  in  Poland  the  national 
middle  class,  and  all  individuality  was  extinguished  in 
burghers  and  peasants.  The  peasant  became  a  poor,  soil- 
tilling,  hard-oppressed  serf,  plucked  for  centuries  by  the 
nobleman,  and  by  his  right-hand  man,  the  Jew.  Stripped  of 
all  human  dignity,  the  Polish  peasant  never  lost,  however, 
in  his  thus  degraded  state,  his  more  noble  qualities.  He 
is  gentle,  good-natured,  confiding  even  beyond  the  limits 
of  reasonable  cautiousness,  cheerful,  patient  under  ill- 
treatment,  and  never  revengeful.  Originally  possessing 
ability,  which  long  oppression  and  the  absolute  neglect  in 
which  he  was  forcibly  kept  for  centuries,  have,  however, 
weakened  and  even  partly  deadened,  he  is  laborious 
and  hardworking,  but  scarcely  now  able  to  recover  from 
the  lifelessness  lasting  through  countless  generations.  And 
thus  in  Poland  among  the  burghers  as  well  as  among  the 
peasants,  who  form  the  great  body  of  the  people,  there 
does  not  exist  that  active  intelligent  class,  out  of  which 
spring  forth  mechanics,  artizans,  etc,  on  whose  shoulders 
repose  the  well-being  and  progressive  development  of  a 
nation.  In  oue  word  :  in  Poland  there  no  more  exists  a 
people  in  the  higher  social  and  philosophical  meaning  of  the 


INTRODUCTION.  31 

word.  Such  a,  people  cannot  be  created  at  once,  by 
schemes  or  abstract  theories.  Even  in  the  national  war 
of  183' ,  against  the  Russians,  the  nobility  did  not  under 
stand  how  to  be  great  in  their  sacrifices  and  to  reinstate 
socially  the  patriotic  peasantry.* 

Russia  in  her  first  stage  was  preserved  fro^i  any  for 
eign  influx  to  that  extent  to  which  it  took  place  in  Poland, 
and  in  almost  all  other  Slavic  regions.  Notwithstanding 
social  oppression,  intellectual  activity,  as  by  a  miracle, 
was  preserved  in  all  its  vigour  among  her  people,  more 
intensely  than  in  any  other  Slavic  branch,  and  resisting, 
as  will  be  shown  hereafter,  the  abnormal  deadly  action 
of  despotism  and  caste,  grinding  all  the  faculties  of  mind 
and  intellect.  And  in  this  mental  as  well  as  in  her  geo 
graphical  development,  Russia  again  was  left  to  her  own 
powers  and  to  her  own  virility.  Whatever,  then,  may 
be  the  character  of  her  formation,  it  bears  a  peculiarly 
distinct  mark.  For  centuries  she  was  shut  out  from  any 
contact  with  the  West,  and  her  early  relations  with  By 
zantium  were  soon  broken  off  by  the  Tartar  conquest  and 
the  fall  of  the  Eastern  Empire.  Notwithstanding  that  the 
Slavi  did  not  in  any  way  participate  in  the  overthrow  of  the 
Roman  world,  and  did  not  rise  out  of  its  ruins,  still  many 
branches  of  their  stock :  as  the  Poles,  Tschechs  or  Bohe 
mians,  and  others  extending  towards  the  south,  became  at 
an  early  epoch,  influenced  by  the  western  and  Roman 

*  In  the  beginning  of  the  Polish  insurrection  of  1830  (for 
which,  to  mention  by  the  way,  being  one  of  its  authors,  I  was  con 
demned  to  death),  by  a  legal  and  official  act,  in  my  own  and  in 
the  name  of  my  minor  brothers,  I  abolished  the  husbandry  service 
rendered  generally  by  the  peasants,  leaving  with  them,  as  absolute 
and  immediate  property,  the  lands  held  formerly  as  farms.  No 
body,  not  even  one  single  nobleman,  followed  in  the  track.  I  men 
tion  it  here,  only  "pro  memoria." 


32  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

ideas,  in  the  shape  of  worship  and  laws.  From  the  con 
tact  with  G-ermany,  Teutonic  laws,  such  as  the  Saxon,  the 
Magdebourg,  etc.,  penetrated,  together  with  that  general 
common  law  of  the  whole  of  Europe,  the  great  jus  civile 
But  Russia  was  beyond  their  reach.  In  the  Xth  century, 
Wladimir  the  Great,  published  a  book  of  law  called 
Prawda  Ruska  (Russian  truth,)  a  collection  of  national 
legal  usages  and  customs,  and  this  at  an  epoch  when  the 
study  of  the  jus  civile  was  not  yet  thought  of  any  where. 
The  code  of  law  published  under  the  preserit  reign,  and 
known  by  the  name  of  Swod  Zakonoff,  is  a  digest  of  pre- 
cedental  ukases  or  decrees,  most  of  them  based  on  ancient 
national  ideas  enacted  by  successive  Czars  according  to  die 
exigencies  of  the  time,  and  of  the  internal,  social  or  govern 
mental  organization  and  their  development. 

It  may  be  mentioned  as  a  curious  evidence  how  far  no 
Roman  legal  notion  whatever  penetrated  into  Russia, 
that  even  despotism  never  introduced  penal  fines.  The 
political  offender  in  Russia  proper,  when  condemned, 
forfeits  all  his  property ;  still  it  is  not  the  government 
that  seizes  upon  it,  but  the  legal  and  legitimate  heirs. 
Thus  the  fortune  is  never  lost  to  the  family.  Confiscation 
exists  only  in  Poland,  where  Russian  law  does  not  yet 
prevail. 

The  exterior  action  of  Russia  has  something  in  it 
fatal  and  unavoidable.  Her  rapid  extension  seems  direct 
ed  by  a  pre-ordained  law, — seems  to  be  an  effect  of  more 
mysterious  import  than  the  reason  of  the  time  can  eluci 
date.  Until  now  autocracy,  Czarism  or  despotism  is  the 
principal  agency.  How  far  it  is  national  now,  but  neither 
inborn  nor  indestructible,  and  thus  finally  only  a  transient 
social  and  governmental  expediency,  will  be  shown  in  the 
subsequent  pages.  Its  actions  generally  do  not  harmonize 
with  the  genuine  national  character,  which  often  softens 


INTRODUCTION.  33 

the  harshness  of  despotic  rule.  Thus  neither  do  the 
Slavi  in  general,  nor  the  Russian,  attempt  to  violently  curb 
and  transform  the  conquered.  This  the  Slavi  have,  in 
common  with  the  French  as  well  as  with  other  races  of 
the  south,  differing  from  the  German  race  with  all  its 
branches  and  denominations,  all  of  whom  supersede  and 
exterminate  the  conquered.  The  Russian,  like  the  French- 
man  or  other  man  of  the  south,  absorbs  by  amalgamation 
and  transforms  by  a  rather  slow  process,  leaving  the  sub 
dued  for  a  long  time  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  distinct 
social  characteristics.  Thus  the  Russian  people  have 
neither  a  hostile  feeling  nor  a  craving  for  the  property 
and  the  extermination  of  the  Letts,  the  Finns,  the  Bash 
kirs,  Calmoucks,  Tartars,  etc.,  but  once  conquering  them, 
allow  them  to  live  peaceably  at  their  side.  There  are 
small  Finnic  or  Ouralian  tribes  still  leading  an  undis 
turbed  life,  surrounded-  on  all  sides  by  the-  conquering 
race.  Russia  leaves  in  peace  the  remnants  of  a  broken 
people.  For  the  so-called  necessities  of  state,  however, 
and  when  irritated,  the  government  acts  sometimes  in 
opposition  to  the  predominant  national  feeling. 

Each  of  the  primitive  races  destined  to  take  posses 
sion  and  to  people  Europe,  brought  with  it  a  special  and 
distinct  language.  So  did  the  Slavi.  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  cardinal  root  of  all  of  them,  these  languages 
served  and  serve  to  mark  as  distinctly,  national  delimi- 
nations,  as  could  any  other  geographical  lines,  set  up  by 
nature.  One  of  the  most  lively,  unshaken  evidences  of  a 
race,  of  a  people,  is  their  language  with  all  its  peculiarities. 
It  is  the  greatest  and  the  highest  historical  proof— it  is 
the  full  breathing  of  the  human  soul,  truer  than  the  tes 
timony  of  stone  and  masonry.  The  Slavic  language  has 
the  same  most  incontestable  claims  to  absolute  originality, 


34  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

as  any  other  used  in  Europe  by  any  of  the  great  historical 
races.  In  its  essence  it  is  wholly  independent  from  any 
one  of  them.  The  primitive  Slavic  dialect  underwent  the 
same  process  of  subdivision  and  elaboration,  as  all  the 
other  dialects  whose  nature  and  historical  perfection  are 
already  elucidated  by  scientific  researches.  As  the  stem 
of  a  mighty  tree  divides  itself  into  branches  and  twigs, 
thus  the  original  language  of  a  race,  splits  itself  into  dia 
lects  and  idioms.  And  a  branch  cut  off  and  transplanted, 
becomes  a  tree,  and  thus  going  deeply  back  into  the  past, 
the  now  original  languages  are  dialects  cut  off  from  a 
primitive  stock.  For  the  Indo-European  nations,  this 
stock  is  the  Sanscrit  and  Zend.  Idioms  are  as  twigs ;  and 
both  idioms  and  dialects  are  in  the  same  relation  to  each 
other,  as  are  mighty  and  smaller  races  and  families. 

All  the  dialects  and  idioms  split  and  unfold  progres 
sively,  and  the  farther  one  can  look  backwards  into  his 
tory  the  smaller  is  the  number  of  subdivisions,  less 
striking  the  differences,  and  more  positive  the  proofs  of 
their  derivation  from  one  and  the  same  source.  This 
seems  to  be  the  law  regulating  the  so-called  original  lan 
guages,  as  well  as  idioms  and  dialects  issuing  from  them 
According  to  the  laws  of  growth  and  increase,  a  language 
ran  split  itself  into  countless  dialects.  But  to  such  an 
almost  indefinite  splitting,  there  is  opposed  likewise  a 
natural  impediment.  Not  all  the  boughs  of  a  tree  become 
branches,  or  even  twigs.  One  from  among  many  lives, 
grows,  unfolds  and  extends  itself,  while  others  become 
feeble,  droop,  hang,  and  eventually  die. 

It  would  be  out  of  place  to  enter  here  into  a  philo 
logical  and  ethnological  dissertation,  in  order  to  establish 
which  of  the  numerous  Slavic  dialects  can  claim  the  legit 
imate  preference,  and  the  right  to  be  considered  as  having 
once  formed  the  principal  trunk,  in  this  scattered  but  ex- 


INTRODUCTION.  35 

tensive  family.  Some  eight  centuries  ago,  the  Polish  dia 
lect,  for  example,  resembled  more  than  it  does  now,  the 
ancient  Slavic,  and  thus,  too,  the  Russian.  This  is  a  proof 
that  the  Russian  remained  more  true  and  faithful  to  the 
maternal  source.  At  any  rate,  the  Russian  is  at  present 
the  mightiest  tree,  not  only  physically  and  geographically, 
but  even  according  to  the  spirit  of  the  original  language. 
The  Russian  alone,  considered  either  as  a  language  or  as 
a  dialect,  is  a  general  key  for  understanding  all  the  other 
idioms  formifeg  the  Slavic  group.  Thus  the  Russian,  by 
the  force  of  his  maternal  tongue  alone,  without  the  assist 
ance  of  any  study,  can  at  once  understand  nearly  all  the 
idioms  spoken  out  of  his  country;  on  the  Vistula,  the 
Elbe,  down  to  the  Adriatic  and  to  Roumelia,  and  make 
himself  understood  any  where  through  the  extensive  Slavic 
region.  Neither  the  Pole,  the  Tschech,  the  Illyrian,  nor  the 
Serbe,  as  was  proved  at  the  great  Slavic  congress  held 
in  Prague  in  1848,  can  do  the  like.  This  special  character 
istic  of  the  Russian  language,  in  relation  with  others  of  its 
kindred,  has  already  been  observed  by  Adelung,  and  can 
again  and  again  be  confirmed  by  every  day's  experience. 
Nearly  every  language  has  been  developed,  perfected 
and  refined,  by  poets,  literati,  men  of  letters,  etc.,  that  is 
to  say,  from  above,  from  a  higher  social  and  intellectual 
stratum,  and  consequently,  in  almost  every  country,  the 
language  spoken  by  the  masses,  by  the  people  at  large,  is 
more  or  less  at  variance  with  the  written  one.  Not  so  in 
Russia,  however,  as  will  be  explained  hereafter,  in  speak 
ing  of  the  characteristics  of  the  genuine  people.  True  it 
is,  that  the  poet  Lomonosoff,  living  about  the  first  half  of 
the  last  century,  gave  to  the  language  a  more  precise  form, 
but  the  pure  enunciation  and  accent  pour  from  the  lips 
of  the  people,  and  thence  spread  themselves  over  books 
and  literature. 


36  RUSSIA    AS   IT   IS. 

From  whatever  aspect  the  Slavic  family  is  contem 
plated  :  geographically  and  statistically,  politically  and 
socially,  considering  the  faculty  of  language,  and  ascend 
ing  to  the  powers  of  the  mind — Russia  and  the  Russian 
people,  form  in  the  present,  and  for  the  future,  the  parent 
stem  of  the  whole  Slavic  race ;  and  up  to  the  present 
time,  races  have  fashioned  the  destinies  of  the  world,  and 
above  all,  those  of  the  ancient  world.  Russia,  at  any 
rate,  is  a  huge  body.  "We  proceed  now  to  investigate  its 
internal  structure.  I 


CHAPTER    I. 

CZARISM— ITS  HISTORICAL  ORIGIN. 

VARIOUS  deep  or  shallow  metaphysical  and  psychological 
speculations  have  been  laid  down  upon  the  reasons,  in 
virtue  of  which  the  office  and  power  of  the  Czar  of  Russia, 
with  all  its  criteria  of  unity,  despotism,  autocracy,  and, 
very  often,  of  bloody,  pitiless  tyranny,  has  taken  strong 
and  seemingly  indestructible  root  in  the  most  vivid 
feelings  of  the  Russian  people  of  all  classes  and  shades. 
For  the  solution  of  this  question,  how  and  why  Czarism 
has  become  thus  almost  a  principal  element  of  the  national 
life  and  growth,  one  must  look  not  to  abstract  theorems, 
hatched  out  in  the  convolutions  of  the  brain,  but  simply 
to  history.  There  it  stands,  a  simple,  pure  historical 
faet,'like  many  other  facts ;  and  there  is  the  succession 
of  events  by  which  this  form  of  absolute  monarchy  has 
risen  to  such  eminence,  and  become,  as  it  were,  a  religious 
creed  of  the  people.  ... 

This  institution,  or  form  of  monarchy,  which  we  call 
Czarism,  arose,  in  its  present  attributes,  or,  at  least,  be 
gan  to  work  itself  out  in  Russia  during  the  epoch  of 
Tartar  dominion  and  aggression.  Previous  to  that  epoch, 
and  from  about  the  IXth  or  Xth  century,  from  the 
Dnieper  (Borysthenes),  the  Dniester,  the  Carpathian 


38  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

Mountains,  where  now  extends  Gallicia,  to  the  Dwina 
and  the  Wolga,  Russia  was  ruled  by  a  number  of  princes 
(Kniazia),  some  weak,  others  more  powerful,  who,  to  a 
certain  degree,  were  independent,  but  who  all  recognized 
the  supremacy  of  their  lord  paramount,  the  Grand  Duke 
of  Kiieff,  called  Weliki  Kniaz.  These  principalities  had 
nothing  in  them  of  any  feudal  origin  or  principle,  but 
were  simply  the  results  of  a  successive  division  of  the 
general  patrimony  among  the  heirs  and  children  of  Ru- 
ryk  the  Norman  and  his  brother,  and  thus  they  were  all 
held  by  kindred  and  relations.  Even  the  two  most  an 
cient  Republics  since  the  Christian  era — those  of  Nov 
gorod  the  Great,  and  of  Pskoff — the  historical  manifesta 
tions  of  the  first,  being  distinctly  visible  even  in  the  IVth 
century,  and  both  of  them  nourishing  by  free  institutions 
and  extensive  trade,  when  Germany  and  the  north-west  of 
Europe  were  in  utter  darkness — recognized  the  above 
mentioned  Grand  Ducal  supremacy  from  about  the  IXth 
century  forward. 

The  division  of  the  country  into  smaller  and  smaller 
principalities  increased  continually,  and  murderous  family 
feuds  were  frequent  among  them.  This  facilitated  the 
conquest  by  the  Tartars  in  the  XHIth  century.  To  re 
sist  them  there  was  neither  unity  of  command  nor  of  obe 
dience,  and  thus  no  unity  of  action.  They  accordingly 
subdued  all  and  established  their  supremacy.  We  shall 
not  follow  here  all  the  vicissitudes  of  fortune  which  the 
Grand  Dukedom  underwent.  This  title  passed  from  one 
lineage  to  another,  changed  seats,  wandered  from  Kiieff 
to  many  other  spots,  such  as  Wladimir  and  others,  until 
in  the  last  years  of  the  XHIth  century  it  finally  found  a 
resting  place  in  Moscow. 

The  Tartar  rule  did  not  change  in  the  least  the  inter 
nal  organieation  of  Russia.  The  Tartar  chieftains  or  Khans 


CZARISM ITS    HISTORICAL    ORIGIN.  39 

did  not  interfere  at  all  with  its  internal  administration. 
The  Tartars  did  not  spread  over  the  country  or  settle  in 
any  spot  whateveif  in  the  interior,  either  in  villages  or 
cities.  The  two  races  never  came  into  peaceful  contact. 
They  did  not  intermarry  or  intermingle,  being  separated 
de  facto  by  immense  distances  and  broad  and  barren 
plains.  But  if  they  had  been  thrown  together,  even 
then,  the  watchfulness  of  the  Eastern,  or  Grrseco-Russian 
Church — the  intense,  vivid  religious  feeling  in  the  bosom 
of  all  classes  of  the  people,"  the  hatred  of  the  conqueror, 
and  of  his  Mahometan  creed — all  these  violent  elements 
would  have  been  sufficient  to  prevent  any  important  union 
of  the  two  races.  The  family  to  which  descended  the 
dignity  of  the  G-rand  Dukes  in  Moscow,  and  the  suprem 
acy  over  the  Empire,  proved  itself  from  the  beginning  of 
its  power,  to  be  inspirited  and  moved  by  a  statesman  like 
conception.  This  was  by  working  uninterruptedly,  from 
father  to  son,  to  frame  out  the  unity  of  the  Empire,  to 
concentrate  all  its  powers  and  resources  in  one  hand,  as 
an  engine  for  the  overthrow  of  the  hateful  Tartar  do 
minion.  It  was  through  the  Grand  Dukes  alone  that  the 
Tartar  Khans  communicated  with  the  Empire.  The  year 
ly  tribute  to  be  paid  from  the  whole,  was  collected  by  the 
Grand  Dukes  and  they  alone  were  responsible  for  it. 
Every  one  ascending  the  Grand  Ducal  throne  was  obliged 
to  seek  his  confirmation  from  the  Khan,  and  visit  him  in 
his  seat  or  residence  at  Horda.  The  Tartar  chiefs  aban 
doned  to  the  Grand  Dukes  the  uncontrolled  management 
of  all  internal  affairs.  Of  this  the  latter  availed  them 
selves  during  nearly  two  centuries,  in  order  to  absorb  and 
destroy  all  the  petty  princes  scattered  over  the  Empire. 
Force  and  cunning  were  largely  used,  the  work  was  a  fear 
ful  and  bloody  one  ;  but  it  succeeded,  and  the  unity  of  the 
Empire,  under  one  supreme  despotic  power,  was  the  result. 


40  RUSSIA    AS   IT    IS. 

Some  of  those  independent  dynasties  were  wholly  exter 
minated,  the  greater  number,  however,  were  forcibly  re 
duced  to  give  up  their  sovereignties.  SiJbh  still  preserved 
large  private  estates  by  way  of  indemnity,  and  retained 
the  title  of  Prince  (Kniaz),  taking  up  their  permanent 
abode  in  Moscow  under  the  eye  of  the  sovereign.  Such 
is  the  origin  of  the  countless  numbers  of  princes  still  to 
be  found  in  Russia. 

In  many  respects  the  Tartar  supremacy  materially 
aided  the  Grand  Dukes  in  their  enterprise,  and  thus  serv 
ed  to  accumulate  materials  for  its  own  destruction.  At 
last,  feeling  their  strength,  the  Grand  Dukes  of  Moscow 
directed  their  whole  energy  and  weight  against  the  Tartar. 
This  struggle  for  independence  lasted  about  thirty  years. 
Moscow  and  Russia  bought  their  liberation  by  streams  of 
blood.  The  final  battle,  called  that  of  the  Giants,  and 
lasting  for  three  days,  on  the  plains  of  Kulikowo,  crowned 
the  effort  with  a  complete  victory. 

In  this  struggle  the  religious  feelings  of  the  nation 
were  exalted  to  the  utmost  intensity.  The  cross  fought 
with  the  Grand  Dukes  against  the  crescent.  It  was  a 
sacred  warfare.  The  Grand  Duke,  the  supreme  power, 
the  despotic  unity,  was  the  soul  of  the  combat.  He  was 
sanctified  by  the  Church,  and  in  this  powerful  moment 
dawned  the  identification  of  the  supreme  political  head  of 
the  nation,  with  its  religious  worship  and  sentiment. 

The  Tartar  was  crushed.  His  destroyer — the  Grand 
Duke,  the  despot,  the  personification  of  Autocracy,  the 
Czar,  as  he  began  now  to  call  himself — ruled  with  an  iron 
rod.  But  as  honor  and  nationality  had  been  vindicated, 
the  grateful  people  supported  rather  patiently  the  bloody 
lash  from  time  to  time  brought  down  upon  them.  Not  a 
century  had  elapsed,  ere  again  the  nationality  of  the  Rus 
sians,  their  religion,  their  whole  national  life  and  inde- 


CZARISM ITS    HISTORICAL    ORIGIN.  41 

pendence,  were  again  brought  to  the  verge  of  a  precipice, 
and  were  on  the  eve  of  being  wholly  blotted  out,  destroy 
ed  and  changed,  by  foreign  conquest,  facilitated  by  violent 
internal  dissensions. 

The  direct  lineage  of  the  Czars  was  destroyed  by  mur 
der.  A  usurper  ascended  the  throne,  and  false  pretend 
ers,  supported  by  Polish  armies,  established  themselves 
in  the  holy  City  of  Moscow,  in  the  sacred  Kremlin.  Ro 
manism  and  the  Jesuits  were  to  crowd  out  the  Eastern, 
or  National  Church  and  worship.  The  Czars  (Schujski) 
who  had  been  elected  by  a  part  of  the  nobility  and  the 
people  of  Moscow,  after  the  overthrow  of  one  of  the  pre 
tenders,  were  brought  chained  to  Poland,  and  died  in  War 
saw  in  close  confinement.  It  was  in  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  The  Poles  ruled  for  several  years 
in  Moscow,  and  the  two  crowns  were  on  the  eve  of  being 
united  on  the  head  of  a  Polish  prince — which  union,  if 
fulfilled,  would  have  absorbed  or  changed  the  distinct, 
genuine  nationality  of  the  Russians.  All  this  was  the  re 
sult  of  the  violent  interruption  above  referred  to  in  the 
lineage  of  the  Czars.  Religion  inflamed  the  people — the 
enemy  then  established  in  Moscow  was  driven  out — vic 
tory  crowned  the  efforts  of  the  religious  patriots,  and  the 
palladium  of  nationality  was  restored.  The  whole  people, 
without  distinction  of  classes,  now  electe^  the  house  of 
Romanoff  to  the  supreme  dignity.  These  events  strength 
ened  in  the  popular  mind  the  belief  in  the  intimate,  almost 
divine  blending  of  religion  and  of  Czarism — of  its  provi 
dential  necessity  for  the  life  and  the  welfare  of  the  nation. 
Czarism,  as  an  idea,  is  not  implanted  or  based  solely  on 
one  class  of  the  nation,  as  were  the  mediaeval  monarchies 
of  Europe,  or  that  of  Hungary  and  that  of  Poland.  It  is 
identified  with  the  religion  and  with  the  whole  mass  of  the 
people.  This  is  confessed  by  the  crown  in  all  moments 


42  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

of  dangerous  crisis,  and  is  evinced  by  all  the  imperial  pro 
clamations  from  the  time  of  Michael,  Peter  the  Great, 
and  Catharine,  down  to  that  published  in  1849,  after  the 
conquest  of  Hungary.  All  bear  nearly  the  same  stamp. 
Humble  in  respect  to  religion,  but  proud  of  the  Russian 
nationality,  and  contemptuous  and  arrogant  with  regard 
to  any  foreign  nation  or  government,  even  in  regard  to 
the  whole  world  out  of  Russia.  This  style  of  speech 
agrees  with  the  intimate,  vivid  feelings  of  the  masses,  who 
are  firm  in  their  creed.  They  believe  themselves  to  be 
the  first  people  in  the  world — the  only  true  Christian  peo 
ple — for  whom  Russia,  the  fatherland,  is  the  white,  or  the 
holy  land — all  the  rest  of  the  world  being  dark,  or  black 
— and  the  capital,  Moscow,  most  white,  holy  and  sacred. 
Thus,  any  foreigner  who  invades  Russia  is  a  heathen,  and 
not  a  Christian. 

The  Russian  Autocracy  shrewdly  works  out  and  avails 
itself  of  this  intensity  of  feeling  and  its  convictions,  in 
order  to  maintain  and  strengthen  its  unnatural  power. 
By  extending  the  frontiers  of  the  Empire — by  conquering 
other  countries,  or,  as  now,  pressing  upon  Europe  by  a 
certain  moral  hallucination,  and  becoming  the  supreme 
arbiter  of  her  destinies ;  that  Autocracy  gives  nourish 
ment  and  satisfaction  to  the  unbounded  national  pride, 
quenches,  for  a  time,  the  countless  internal  dissatisfactions 
— gives  them  no  time  and  no  breath  to  combine,  unite,  and 
concentrate  together. 

The  parasitic  philosophers  of  the  eighteenth  century 
baptized  this  singular  despotism  of  the  Czars  with  the 
more  civilized  phrase  of  Imperialism,  and  adulated  it 
accordingly.  This,  again,  to  a  certain  degree,  reacted 
on  the  nation,  and  strengthened  in  it  the  power  of  the 
Czar,  or  as  we  may  now  call  it,  the  imperial  creed. 
The  people  believed  that  from  it  they  received  a  position 


CZARISM ITS    HISTORICAL    ORIGIN.  43 

in  the  affairs  of  the  world,  a  glorious  and  a  prominent 
place  among  the  elder  nations.  If  the  Emperor  or  Czar 
tramples  under  his  spurred  foot  the  kings,  princes,  and 
nations  of  Europe,  even  the  poorest  serf  believes  that  he 
shares  in  the  act,  and  glories  in  the  glory  of  the  Czar. 
Thus  the  Autocrat  is  the  great  embodiment  of  the  whole 
Russian  nation.  Znaj  ruskago,  "  Know  the  Russian  ! " 
is  in  such  cases  the  general  exclamation  of  content. 

The  despotic,  all- devouring  and  absorbing  creed  which 
we  have  called  Czarism,  is  thus  a  simple  result  of  time 
and  of  events.  But  such  results,  whatever  be  their  strength, 
however  deep  their  roots,  or  however  great  their  duration, 
are  finally  undone,  dissolved,  destroyed  by  the  same  ele 
ments,  by  the  same  agencies  which  raised  them.  Time 
evokes  new  elements  of  activity  and  a  new  range  of  events  ; 
some  of  them  springing  from  its  own  existence,  will  carry 
Czarism  away  with  irresistible  force  into  the  eternal  abyss. 
The  question  is,  when  its  knell  will  sound  ?  That  blessed 
hour  is  not  so  distant  as  some  suppose.  So  much  for  the 
historical  formation  of  this  Autocracy.  In  the  following 
chapter  is  given  an  outline  of  the  present  Czar,  showing 
how  Czarism,  slowly,  invisibly  for  some,  but  nevertheless 
inevitably,  is  digging  its  own  grave. 


44  RUSSIA    AS    IT 


CHAPTER     II. 

THE   CZAE  NICHOLAS. 

"  Bin  Theil  von  jencr  Kraft 
Die  stets  das  Guto  will,  und  stets  da  I5oese  schafft." 

GOETHE. 

CZARISM,  as  an  idea  in  the  notions  of  the  Russian  people,- 
as  well  as  a  fact  in  the  national  existence,  has  reached  its 
zenith  in  the  person  of  the  reigning  Czar.  Whatever  may 
now  be  said  and  wished  to  the  contrary  by  the  enemies  of 
light  and  liberty,  and  by  conservative  owls,  according  to 
all  the  physical  laws  of  nature,  as  well  as  to  those  revealed 
in  history,  from  this  point  of  culmination,  Czarism  must 
begin  to  decline.  These  decisive  moments  are  unavoid 
able,  and  rule  the  rotation  of  bodies,  and  the  destinies  of 
men  and  nations.  The  unnatural  worship  of  the  Imperial 
authority  begins  slowly  to  die  out,  even  now,  in  the  breast 
of  mighty  numbers  among  all  classes  of  the  nation,  and 
the  external  glitter  with  which  it  is  still  surrounded,  de 
pends  on  the  personality  of  the  present  Czar,  whose  suc 
cessful  reign  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  has 
maintained  and  kindled  the  flame  of  loyalty,  and  has  ac 
customed  the  masses  to  believe  in  his  good  luck  and  skil 
ful  statesmanship.  The  like  prestige  will  not  surround 
the  brow  of  his  successors.  The  spell  will  vanish.  No 


•  THE    CZAR    NICHOLAS.  45 

doubt  that  the  cowardice  recently  shown  by  the  rest  of 
Europe,  or  rather  the  infamous  treachery  of  its  sovereigns, 
its  aristocracies  and  conservatives,  has  contributed  might 
ily  to  increase  the  spurious  brilliancy  surrounding  the 
Czar.  However,  he  has  himself  thus  nearly  consumed  all 
the  fuel  which  the  faith  of  the  nation  can  offer  him  as  a 
burnt  offering.  The  idea  is  exhausted  by  him ;  its  ex 
tinction  has  begun ;  and  it  is  an  indisputable  truth  and 
law,  that  what  has  begun  to  wither  as  an  idea,  cannot 
much  longer  sustain  itself  as  a  fact. 

The  present  Emperor  was  born  on  the  6th  July,  1796, 
and  is  thus  58  years  old.  He  married  on  the  1  st  July,  1817, 
the  princess  of  Prussia,  sister  of  the  reigning  king.  She 
was  born  on  the  13th  July,  1798.  They  have  six  living 
children — four  sons  and  two  daughters.  The  eldest  son, 
the  hereditary  Grand  Duke,  was  born  on  the  29th  April, 
1818,  and  married  on  the  28th  April,  1841,  a  princess  from 
the  house  of  Darmstadt ;  they  have  at  present  four  children. 

Much  has  been  said  about  the  external  personal  ap 
pearance  of  Nicholas.  He  is  as  vain-glorious  of  it  as  any 
dandy.  The  glance  of  his  large,  blue-greenish,  crystal- 
like,  limpid  eyes,  pierces  through  and  through  as  with  the 
points  of  two  freezing  icicles.  A  cold  pang  seizes  one's 
whole  being  on  receiving  their  full  glare. 

Nicholas  was  not  destined  from  his  childhood  to  as 
cend  the  Imperial  throne ;  but  his  education  was  not  neg 
lected.  His  mother,  a  sensible,  honest,  and  virtuous 
German  housewife,  of  the  royal  house  of  Wiirtemburg, 
directed  it,  and  that  of  his  younger  brother,  Michael. 
The  two  elder  brothers,  Alexander  and  Constantine,  were 
brought  up  under  the  care  of  the  Empress  Catherine,  and 
received  from  a  Swiss,  La  Harpe,  the  French  encyclopae 
dical,  superficial  education,  at  that  time  in  fashion.  Among 
the  tutors  of  Nicholas  was  the  celebrated  economist, 


46  RUSSIA    AS    IT   IS. 

Storch ;  and  notions  sown  by  this  strong  mind  took  root 
in  that  of  his  youthful  pupil,  budding  forth  to  a  certain 
degree  during  his  whole  life. 

The  great  duel  between  Napoleon  and  Russia  soon 
made  the  mechanism  of  armies  one  of  the  principal  pur 
suits  of  the  young  Grand  Duke,  and  other  studies  were 
rather  neglected.  I  may  observe,  here,  that  there  is  a 
kind  of  mental  disease  in  this  family,  especially  since  the 
unhappy  Peter  III.,  through  which  they  all  regard  it  as 
their  vocation  to  be  good  corporals.  All  of  them  have  de 
voted  and  devote  as  much  time  as  possible  to  martyrizing 
the  soldiers  with  daily  exercises  and  all  the  petty  manoeu- 
vres  of  a  parade.  But  not  one  in  the  whole  family  has 
ever  displayed  any  higher  military  capacity  whatever. 
Nicholas,  however  able  he  may  be,  as  was  his  father  and 
his  three  brothers,  to  detect  a  button  which  is  not  in  its 
right  place  on  the  uniform  of  a  single  soldier  drawn  in 
line  with  hundreds  of  others,  or  any  other  fault  in  the 
equipment — could  never  measure  by  his  eye  the  reach  of  a 
gun,  or  the  distance  accomplished  by  a  bullet.  Thus,  du 
ring  the  campaign  against  the  Turks,  in  1828,  he  sought 
to  earn  military  laurels  by  the  sureness  of  his  eye,  in  mat 
ters  of  seige  and  fortification.  The  Russian  troops  sur 
rounded  the  impregnable  fortress  Schoumla,  the  key  to 
the  Balkan  mountains.  Nicholas  pointed  out  the  spot 
where  the  heavy  ordnance  was  to  be  posted  to  open  the 
fire  on  the  fortress — and  the  bullets  fell  half  way  from 
the  walls.  His  capacity  as  commander  has  never  risen 
above  that  of  directing  the  various  manoeuvres  of  a  single 
regiment  of  cavalry.  The  movements  of  two  regiments 
combined  are  too  much  for  him.  In  the  sham  fights,  which 
every  year  serve  for  his  pastime,  and  where  150,000  men 
are  often  unmercifully  employed  in  the  hottest  season, 
with  immense  cost  and  loss  of  time,  the  Emperor  usod 


THE    CZAR    NICHOLAS.  47 

sometimes  to  take  the  command  of  one-half  of  the  army, 
but  always  to  make  the  most  unpardonable  blunders,  and 
to  be  out-rnanceuvered  by  his  opponent  He  has  even  been 
taken  prisoner  with  his  staff  at  a  dinner  table ;  and  now, 
taught  by  experience,  he  takes  his  seat  among  the  judges 
of  the  camp.  An  able  general  and  bad  courtier,  named 
Murawioff,  who,  on  one  occasion  thus  took  the  Emperor 
prisoner,  very  soon  afterwards  fell  into  disgrace,  and  is  no 
longer  intrusted  with  any  military  command.  During  the 
above-mentioned  campaign  in  Turkey,  Nicholas  joined  the 
army,  commanded  by  field-marshal  Prince  Wittgenstein, 
interfering  continually  as  we  have  been  told,  with  its  mili 
tary  operations.  To  this  untimely  interference  the  un 
happy  results  of  this  first  campaign  were  due.  The  next 
year  the  command  was  transferred  to  Field-Marshal  Dy- 
bitsch.  The  first  condition  in  accepting  it  was,  that  both 
the  Imperial  brothers,  Nicholas  and  Michael,  should  re 
main  at  home,  and  keep  quiet.  Nicholas,  grown  wise  by 
the  previous  year's  experience,  acceded  to  the  demand. 
The  results  are  known,  The  army  crossed  the  Balkan, 
took  Adrianople,  and  there  the  treaty,  bearing  that  name, 
was  signed.  Dybitsch  earned  the  surname  of  Zabalkanski 
(the  Grosser  of  the  Balkan.)  Since  this  lesson,  Nicholas 
has  never  joined  an  army,  nor  appeared  personally  on  any 
theatre  of  war,  either  in  Poland  or  in  Hungary.  Now  he 
believes  himself  to  be  a  great  naval  commander.  So  much 
for  his  military  abilities. 

From  the  peace  of  1815,  to  the  time  of  his  ascending 
the  throne  in  1825,  he  devoted  his  time  almost  exclusively 
to  military  exercises,  but  was  known  only  as  the  inventor 
of  an  ambulatory  kitchen-stove,  for  the  use  of  the  camp. 
But  this  seems  after  all  to  have  been  a  trick  somewhat  in 
the  way  of  that  practised  by  Pope  Sixtus  V.,  in  order 
not  to  cause  any  suspicions  in  the  morbid  mind  of  Alex- 


48  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

ander,  who  from  1822  to  the  time  of  his  death  was  labor 
ing  under  the  darkest  hypochondria.  About  1821,  the 
family  pact  was  agreed  upon,  by  which  Constantine  resign 
ed  his  right  to  the  succession,  and  Nicholas  was  declared 
to  be  the  heir  to  the  throne.  But  it  was  kept  perfectly 
secret,  and  .known  only  to  three  or  four  persons.  At  that 
period  Nicholas  was  occasionally  present  at  the  sessions 
of  the  special  ministry,  or  secretaryship  of  state,  directed  by 
the  celebrated  Count  Araktscheff,  into  whose  hands  Alexan 
der,  in  the  last  years  of  his  life,  totally  resigned  the  reins  of 
Government.  So  far  was  this  the  case,  that  the  Count  had 
in  his  possession  a  quantity  of  blanks  with  the  signature  of 
Alexander,  and  was  thus  enabled  to  decide,  publish  and 
execute  any  law  or  any  other  disposition  whatever.  It  seems 
that  the  Count,  an  honest  man,  and  a  great  despiser  of  man 
kind,  while  wielding  this  power  did  not  treat  the  future  Sov 
ereign  with  any  excessive  deference.  After  the  death  of 
Alexander,  Araktscheff,  who  was  at  his  estates  in  the 
country,  instantly  returned  to  Nicholas  all  the  blanks  of 
Alexander  in  his  possession.^  For  this  the  new  Emperor 
rewarded  him  with  the  gift  of  a  favorite  uniform  of  Alex 
ander,  to  be  preserved  as  a  relic.  A  very  short  time  after 
ward,  the  Count  received  orders  never  to  leave  his  estates 
without  special  permission  from  the  Czar.  I  mention 
these  facts,  because  they  give  the  best  insight  into  the  real 
character  of  the  man. 

History  has  already  recorded  the  bloody  drama  attend 
ing  the  ascension  of  the  Imperial  throne  by  Nicholas.  It 
was  not,  what  the  French  writers  call  a  palace  revolution, 
a  tragedy  in  a  closet  or  in  a  bed-chamber,  performed  by  a 
few  courtiers  and  conspirators  as  assassins,  but  it  took 
place  publicly,  before  the  people,  in  the  streets,  and  as  it 
were  in  the  forum,  and  the  best,  the  most  intellectual  and 
youthful  energies  of  the  nation  were  among  the  actors. 


THE    CZAR    NICHOLAS.  49 

It  must  be  mentioned,  that  as  soon  as  the  news  of  the  death 
of  Alexander  reached  St.  Petersburg,  where  Nicholas 
resided,  he  did  not  at  first  avail  himself  of  the  resignation 
of  his  elder  brother,  but  took  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  him, 
and  so  did  the  nation,  awaiting  the  decision  of  Constantine, 
who  was  then  residing  in  Warsaw,  and  who  after  some 
hesitation  kept  his  word. 

On  that  day,  so  momentous  for  him  and  the  Russian 
people,  Nicholas  gave  proofs  of  great  personal  courage 
and  of  a  calm,  deliberate  presence  of  mind.  The  insur 
rectionary  attempt  was  overpowered,  and  the  first  dim  as 
pirations  of  Russia  for  a  kind  of  constitutional  liberty, 
fashioned  on  English  and  French  patterns,  were  choked. 
Whether  these  aspirations  were  premature  or  not,  and 
their  arrest  beneficial  or  calamitous,  cannot  be  discussed 
in  this  brief  outline.  Among  the  reasons  given  by  the 
revolutionary  leaders  for  thus  attempting  to  muzzle  the 
autocracy,  or  even  to  expel  the  dynasty,  they  pointed  to 
the  desolate  state  of  Russia,  caused  by  the  imbecility  dis 
played  by  Alexander  in  the  last  years  of  Ms  reign  ;  to  the 
savage  ferocity  of  his  brother  Constantine,  and  to  the 
supposed  entire  incapacity  of  Nicholas.  Nicholas,  who, 
secreted  behind  a  folding  screen,  was  daily  present  at  the 
examination  of  the  prisoners,  heard  all  this,  and  thus  re 
ceived  a  wholesome  lesson. 

The  accused  were  condemned,  some  to  capital  punish 
ment,  others  to  Siberia  for  life,  or  for  a  longer  or  shorter 
length  of  time.  In  the  execution  of  these  sentences  at 
the  time,  as  well  as  during  the  long  exile — twenty  years 
for  some  of  the  condemned — Nicholas  has  shown  glimpses 
of  a  character  and  feelings — which  have  more  than  once 
come  to  light  during  his  reign — revealing  a  cold-blooded 
heart,  and  the  disposition  of  a  tyrant  as  far  as  it  is  possi 
ble  to  be  one  in  our  times,  even  in  Russia.  The  most 
3 


50  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

prominent  and  deepest  feature  in  his  character,  darkening 
his  actions,  is  an  inexorable,  unextinguishable  rancor. 
Thus,  never,  never  has  he  understood  how  to  be  liberally, 
fully  merciful.  It  is  more  than  he  can  afford.  What  in 
the  language  of  monarchies  is  called  granting  a  pardon, 
and  being  magnanimous,  he  is  never  able  to  perform  with 
that  grandeur  which  even  the  most  accursed  tyrants  have 
sometimes  exhibited.  He  distils  forgiveness  slowly  drop 
after  drop ;  never,  however,  wholly  filling  the  cup  of  par 
don,  forgetful  thus  of  one  of  the  most  popular  Russian 
adages  :  Kaznit  tak  kaznit,  milowat  tak  milowat,  "  Be 
unyielding  in  punishing,  be  grand  in  pardon." 

Capital  punishment  was  abolished  in  Russia  by  the 
Empress  Elizabeth  a  century  since,  with  the  exception  of 
the  sentences  of  courts-martial.  When  the  capital  con 
demnation  of  the  perpetrators  of  the  movement  of  1 825 
was  submitted  to  the  sanction  of  the  Czar,  he  for  three 
days  refused  to  sign  it,  not  wishing  to  be  the  restorer  of 
such  a  measure.  His  councillors  urged  him  to  the  step. 
He  yielded  to  their  advice.  A  hangman  was  imported 
from  Stockholm,  as  there  was  none  in  Russia.  The  exe 
cution  of  five  of  the  condemned  took  place  publicly  in 
St.  Petersburgh.  The  Governor- General  of  the  capital 
presided  on  the  occasion.  Four  were  executed  one  after 
another.  The  fifth  and  last  in  order  was  Ryleeff,  a  be 
loved  and  popular  poet.  The  rope  broke,  and  he  fell  to 
the  ground  hurt  slightly  and  alive.  The  crowd  echoed  a 
simultaneous,  thunder-like  groan.  The  Governor- General 
hesitated,  and  sent  for  orders  to  the  Emperor.  The  an 
swer  was,  to  "  take  a  stronger  rope  and  proceed  with  the 
execution."  In  the  same  spirit,  he  has  never  fully  libe 
rated  any  of  the  political  exiles  in  Siberia,  even  after  long 
years  of  punishment ;  not  even  when  his  son  humbly  in 
terceded  for  some  of  them.  The  immortal  poet  Puschkine, 


THE    CZAR    NICHOLAS.  51 

in  his  only  verses  addressed  to  Nicholas,  stimulating  him 
to  tread  in  the  footsteps  of  Peter  the  Grreat,  admonishes 
him  to  resemble  Peter  in  forgiveness,  and  be  of  a  short 
memory  for  wrongs  done  to  himself,  as  was  his  great  an 
cestor. 

All  his  qualities  for  good  and  for  evil,  appeared  on 
the  surface  and  shaped  themselves  out  when  he  ascended 
the  throne.  The  first  steps  of  the  young  sovereign  were 
made  cautiously,  with  great  circumspection.  He  tried  to 
surround  himself  wtth  honest  men,  rare  jewels  in  Russia, 
even  among  those  in  the  highest  places.  He  was  directed 
in  his  choice  by  what  is  there  a  caricature  of  public  opin 
ion,  by  the  voice  of  some  few  saloons,  and  likewise  by  the 
advice  of  his  mother.  He  thus  made  some  gpod  and  some 
bad  selections.  He  devoted  his  activity  to  stopping  the 
disorders  which  had  mightily  seized  on  the  Empire  in  the 
last  years  of  Alexander;  during  which  time  it  can  be 
said,  there  was  no  government  and  no  administration, 
and  that  Russia  kept  together  by  an  inward,  inborn  force 
of  cohesion.  His  primitive  tendency  was  to  be  a  reform 
er,  to  give  a  new  and  refreshing  impulse  to  the  nation, 
and  to  awaken  its  intellect  and  powers.  These  first  steps 
were  successful.  The  torpor  of  the  past  reign  was  so 
great,  that  the  slightest  movement  in  a  new  direction 
could  not  but  prove  beneficial.  The  nation  saw  a  new 
light,  a  new  era  dawning  before  it.  Nicholas  proclaimed 
the  supremacy  of  the  law  over  his  own  will.  All  seemed 
to*blossom  under  the  rays  of  success.  His  star  rose  and 
shone  more  and  more  brilliantly.  The  campaigns  of  Tur 
key  and  of  Persia  were  glorious.  Then  came  the  Polish 
insurrection.  From,  this  crisis,  Russia,  after  for  a  moment 
coming  near  a  new  separation  from  Europe  by  the  possi 
bility  of  a  restoration  of  Poland  through  the  preliminary 
success  of  the  patriotic  armies — Russia,  after  the  first  blow, 


52  RUSSIA    AS    IT   IS. 

which  was  so  nearly  deadly  for  her,  recovered — and  Po 
land  was  annihilated. 

These  events,  thus  happily  accomplished  in  rapid  suc 
cession,  surrounded  the  brow  of  Nicholas  with  a  bright 
halo.  The  nation  believed  in  him.  People  always  wor 
ship  the  successful.  And  thus  Czarism,  degraded  by 
Alexander,  was  again  raised  into  a  higher  region.  During 
this  time  of  his  ascending  movement  Nicholas  believed 
that  his  mission  was  to  be  the  conductor  of  his  people 
into  light  and  civilization,  that  he  was  to  lay  a  corner 
stone  for  their  moral  and  social  amelioration.  He  believ 
ed  this  to  be  the  mission  of  an  autocrat.  The  earnestness 
of  his  purpose  and  efforts  at  that  time  dazzled  and  at 
tracted  many  generous  minds,  many  strong  and  active 
intellects,  and  they  thronged  to  serve  under  his  banner, 
to  share  with  him  in  this  laborious  but  generous  toil.  It 
was  something  more  than  a  dream — it  was  a  reality  of 
several  years'  duration.  It  seemed  that  in  proportion  as 
he  rose,  his  mind  extended  and  purified  itself.  Under 
Catharine  and  Alexander  foreigners  overflowed  Russia, 
the  national  genius  was  crippled,  all  was  imitation  in  think 
ing,  acting,  and  in  literature.  Nicholas  put  forward  the 
idea  of  again  bathing  the  Russian  mind  in  the  pure  life- 
giving  fountain  of  genuine  unsullied  nationality — of  mak 
ing  it  the  focus  and  the  compass  of  civilization.  Such 
is  the  origin  of  the  so-called  Russian  governmental  Pan- 
slavism. 

At  that  time  Nicholas  was  accessible  to  truth,  hearing 
remonstrances  patiently,  sometimes  thankfully.  He  al 
lowed  the  criticism  of  abuses  through  books  and  dramatic 
representations.  He  combated  with  all  his  might,  and 
tried  to  eradicate  the  boundless  venality  and  corruption 
— unconscious,  it  may  be,  that  they  lay  at  the  very  bottom 
of  the  principle  by  which  he  holds  his  power.  In  the 


THE    CZAR    NICHOLAS.  53 

first  years  of  his  reign  he  several  times  tried  to  relax  the 
severity  of  the  censorship  for  home  as  well  as  for  foreign 
publications  and  newspapers,  but  he  was  constantly  dis 
suaded  by  his  advisers.  Very  soon  he  became  tired  of 
many  good  measures  that  he  had  attempted.  And  he 
lacks  real  knowledge  of  men.  Thus  he  was  often  misled 
in  his  choice  even  then,  when  flattery  was  not  yet  omni 
potent  over  his  mind.  In  his  attempt  at  reform  he  stum 
bled  at  the  above-mentione'd  impediment.  Incontestably 
he  had  the  power  of  comprehending  a  new  reformatory 
idea,  and  even  a  deep  and  broad  one ;  of  adopting  and 
giving  it  form — transforming  it  into  a  law.  But  deprived 
of  the  capacity  of  embracing  all  the  details  requisite  for 
putting  it  into  practice,  he  has  had  in  his  endeavors  to  de 
pend  on  the  good  will  of  his  Ministers — who  very  often, 
when  bowing  ostensibly  to  his  will,  and  feigning  to  accept 
the  projected  reform,  have  surrounded  its  execution  with 
countless  difficulties,  and  thus  have  often  succeeded  in  ar 
resting  its  action.  In  this. way  many  reforms  projected, 
and  even  decreed,  have  been  abandoned. 

His  mother  inspired  him  with  a  rigidity  of  principles, 
and  with  a  religious  respect  for  his  own  word.  Thus  he 
has  a  certain  scrupulous  honesty.  He  treats  with  con 
tempt  or  dislike  all  diplomatic  tricks,  or  diplomatic  tortu 
osity.  He  is  a  good  husband,  an  excellent  father ;  but 
these  qualities  do  not  always  indicate  a  true  generos 
ity  of  soul.  Few,  if  any,  have  seen  a  warm  tear  moisten 
his  eye  at  a  great  general  and  not  his  own  personal  mis 
fortune.  From  the  beginning  of  his  reign  one  can  say 
that  he  has  been  generous  in  his  own  way,  and  even  lavish 
principally  for  ostentation,  when  in  foreign  lands,  as  well 
as  to  those  who  surround  him,  and  whom  he  believes  to 
be  wholly  devoted  to  his  person.  But  such  men  need 
kindness  less  than  others,  who  work  hard  in  the  service  in 


54  RUSSIA    AS  IT    IS. 

lower  positions,  and  to  whom  he  is  rather  parsimonious. 
But  in  whatever  manner  ho  bestows  a  favor,  he  never  does 
it  in  a  simple,  natural  way,  but  always  with  a  pompous 
ostentation,  sometimes  painful  for  the  receiver.  This 
leads  one  to  presume  that  he  lacks  real  benevolence  of 
heart,  in  which  respect  he  is  far  below  his  brother,  Alex 
ander,  or  even  Constantine. 

These  principal  features  of  his  mind  and  character 
have  been  his  companions,  the  lights  and  shadows  in  the 
exercise  of  power,  in  his  progress  to  its  climax.  Having 
reached  it,  he  could  not  withstand  its  intoxication.  No 
mortal  can ;  Christ  alone,  in  his  God-like  nature,  resisted 
temptation.  But  the  tempter,  the  spirit  of  lies,  darkness 
and  treachery,  this  father  of  absolutism,  gets  control  of 
others.  He  subdues  them  all.  Thus  he  ruined  Napoleon. 
On  that  unnatural  height  the  head  of  Nicholas  soon  be 
came  giddy.  Those  regions  are  frozen,  and  all  generous 
aspirations  die  out  in  that  atmosphere.  The  basest  in 
cense  and  adulation  became  alone  palatable  to  him.  Then 
struck  the  hour  of  his  moral  downfall,  invisible  from  with 
out,  but  felt  deeply  by  Russia.  % 

In  that  part  of  his  reign  when  his  moral  influence  was 
in  the  ascendant,  the  Czar  tried,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
to  kindle  and  to  spread  among  the  people  some  sparks  or 
glimpses  of  light  and  vitality.  But  ten  or  twelve  years 
ago  a  change  took  place.  His  mind  faltered,  and  the 
downward  movement  began.  The  regions  of  despotic 
power,  limited  neither  by  law  nor  reason,  are  like  the 
ethereal  space  where  swim  the  celestial  bodies,  in  them 
selves  dark,  frigid,  and  lifeless.  In  that  cheerless  sphere 
the  Czar  lost  the  perception  of  light.  He  became  afraid 
of  his  own  work  and  learned  to  dread  civilization.  He 
evoked  and  made  a  compact  with  the  spirit  of  darkness, 
and  arrayed  him  against  his  own  nation.  The  better 


liiK    CZAR    NICHOLAS.  55 

germs  in  his  mind  witliered  and  shrunk,  while  the  weeds 
of  his  chanicter  grew  exuberantly,  poisoning  and  strang 
ling  all  die  generous  pulsations  of  his  heart.  The  time 
when  he  allowed  some  of  his  councillors  to  give  him  even 
the  most  humble  advice,  came  to  an  end.  Now  he  began 
to  ask  for  blind  compliance,  and  the  most  debasing  adula 
tion.  Once,  for  example,  he  had  authorized  the  old 
Prince  Grallitzin,  the  Governor- General  of  Moscow,  to  ad 
dress  him  frankly,  and  to  inform  him  if  any  of  his  acts 
were  unpalatable  to  the  national  spirit.  The  Prince  en 
joying  the  highest  esteem  of  the  public,  as  well  as  an  ele 
vated  social  and  official  position,  sometimes,  though  very 
seldom,  made  use  of  this  confidential  permission.  For  a 
period  his  observations  were  graciously  received.  But  on 
one  occasion,  when  he  forewarned  the  sovereign  about  a 
measure  which  was  not  at  all  welcome  to  the  nation,  the 
despot  told  him :  "  Prince,  you  are  becoming  revolution 
ary  ;  once  I  wanted  advisers,  now  I  can  rule  by  myself 
without  them." 

And  so  he  began  to  rule.  Since  the  commencement 
of  his  reign,  the  ministers  have  had  stated  days  and  hours 
to  transact  business  with  the  Czar,  each  separately  for  its 
own  department.  They  now  found  out,  that  the  safest 
thing  was  to  go  into  generalities  only,  and,  as  far  as  pos 
sible,  not  to  disclose  any  troublesome  occurrences,  or  to 
let  him  know  the  true  state  of  things.  All  affairs  must 
be  represented  in  the  most  agreeable  colors.  Thus,  the 
reports  prepared  for  the  sovereign  are  required,  to  use 
the  common  expression,  to  be  made  sweet  as  sweetmeats. 
The  first  to  introduce  this  new  mode  was  Count  Kiseleff, 
the  iiead  of  a  newly  created  Department,  that  of  Public 
Domains,  a  department  embracing  a  population  of  nearly 
twenty  millions.  Next  to  him  came  the  Prince  Men- 
schikoff,  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  Count  Alex.  Strogo- 


56  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

noff.  But  there  still  were  some  exceptions,  and  some 
ministers  maintained  the  old  ground.  However,  the  in 
fallibility  of  the  Czar  became  the  all-embracing  theme  for 
flatterers,  for  the  intimate  court  circles,  as  well  as  for  the 
debased  litterateurs,  writers  and  poets,  who  principally  live 
in  St.  Petersburg.  Next,  they  began  to  offer  the  incense 
of  praise  for  his  Apollo-like  form.  Not  only  the  home  cour 
tiers,  but  those  abroad,  the  small  German  principiculi  and 
their  pack,  as  well  as  other  courts — for  example,  that  of 
Stockholm — burnt  before  the  idol  the  like  offering.  The 
idol  believed  now  sincerely  in  the  irresistible  influence 
and  attraction  of  his  personal  appearance.  In  this  is  the 
explanation  of  his  unlooked-for  visit,  paid  in  1844,  to 
Queen  Victoria,  as  well  as  of  those  made  to  Vienna,  and 
to  the  Pope  Gregory  XVI.  in  1846,  all  of  which  proved 
failures. 

Once  he  lighted  up  the  flame  of  a  genuine  nationality. 
Now  the  nation  is  embodied  in  his  person.  No  other  ut 
terances  of  the  national  spirit  are  allowed  to  have  publi 
city.  Any  scenic  representation,  criticizing  abuses  or 
customs,  is  prohibited.  It  is  a  personal  offence.  At  the 
same  time,  the  military  hobby  more  and  more  masters  his 
intellect.  Every  thing  must  be  submitted  to  military  drill. 
Thus,  for  example,  the  high  schools  for  law  and  surgery 
in  St.  Petersburg  are  military  institutions.  The  Empire 
is  divided  into  University  Districts,  under  the  Secretary 
of  Public  Instruction.  The  heads  of  these  districts,  the 
directors  of  the  public  schools,  and  those  of  the  higher 
gymnasia,  and  of  late  even  the  minister  himself,  are  taken 
either  from  the  army  or  navy,  principally  from  the  latter, 
as  the  most  fit  to  maintain  an  iron  rule,  and  to  restrain 
within  just  limits  the  occasional  thirst  for  good  infor 
mation.  Finally,  a  ukase  was  published,  allowing  only 
three  hundred  young  men  to  receive  yearly  the  higher  in- 


THE    CZAR    NICHOLAS.  57 

struction  of  the  Universities.  Of  these,  there  being  six 
in  Russia,  the  total  yearly  number  of  their  pupils  is  1 ,800, 
and  these  are  taken  from  the  class  of  the  nobility  alone ; 
as  another  ukase  prohibits  the  burghers,  those  forming 
the  first  and  second  guild,  from  giving  their  children  a 
higher  education,  because,  as  the  ukase  explains,  it  would 
contribute  to  arouse  wishes  and  aspirations  not  to  be 
reached  and  realized  by  that  class  in  Russia,  and  thus 
would  spread  dissatisfaction  with  the  real  position  of  the 
individuals  and  the  class. 

Serious  instruction  of  the  mind  in  history  and  philo 
sophy  is  proscribed,  as  dangerous,  and  as  contributing  to 
give  to  it  loftier  and  purer  ideas  and  notions  than  it  ought 
to  have.  So  are  classical  studies.  Not  even  the  shadow 
of  a  free,  scientific  criticism  is  suffered.  All  is  to  be 
wrapped  in  the  cold  shroud  of  pure,  icy  despotism. 

The  genius  of  Russia  will,  through  eternity,  be  a 
mourning  accuser  before  the  tribunal  of  God  and  of  incor 
ruptible,  unrelenting  history,  for  the  bloody  destruction 
of  its  most  brilliant  emanations — manifested  in  a  Ryleef, 
in  a  Puschkine,  one  of  the  greatest  poets  of  his  time — in 
Lermonteeff  and  in  Bestuschef-Marlinski.  Puschkine  fell 
in  a  duel,  a  holocaust  to  the  licentious  vanity  of  the  Em 
peror.  The  Czar,  by  fostering  an  infamous  scandal  which 
he  might  have  strangled  in  the  embryo,  sought  for  re 
venge  on  this  independent  and  unbending  poet,  who  had 
resisted  every  seduction.  For  an  offence  against  a  piece 
of  court  gossip,  and  at  the  same  time  for  an  action  proper 
to  a  high-bred  and  high-spirited  man,  Lermonteeff  was 
exiled  to  the  Caucasus,  and  found  there  a  premature 
death.  Marlinski  was  also  sent  there  to  atone  for  his 
liberal  opinions.  The  fate  of  Ryleef  I  have  already  told. 
All  these  lyres  and  many  others  have  been  crushed  and 
stifled  by  Nicholas.  Among  many  whom  the  Czar  has 
3* 


58  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

vainly  tried  to  muzzle,  is  Chomiakoff,  who  was  treated  by 
the  despot  with  an  affected  contempt,  because  this  versa 
tile  genius  sings  Russia  5  because  he  feels  deeply  that  her 
sublime  destinies  are  independent  of  Czarism ;  and  be 
cause  the  poet  and  the  thinker  never  bent  his  knee,  or 
debased  his  inspirations  and  his  pen  with  official  adulation. 
Thus  Czarism  levies  war  against  every  genuine  im 
pulse  and  idea  of  which  it  is  not  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega, 
As  for  the  Parislavism  which  would  emancipate  itself  from 
governmental  tutorship  and  become  a  truly  national  con 
ception,  full  of  life,  bearing  in  its  womb  the  future  free 
destinies  of  Russia  and  of  the  Slavic  race,  the  Panslavism 
blended  for  life  and  death  with  the  loftier  vitality  of  the 
Russian  people — the  Panslavism  which  would  clear  off  the 
rubbish,  heaped  by  centuries  of  abuse  over  the  roots  of 
the  national  growth  of  freedom,  and  the  internal  indepen 
dence  of  the  whole  population — the  Panslavism  which  has 
reminded  and  reminds  the  nation  that,  the  bigotry  of 
Czarism  is  comparatively  modern,  and  that  communal 
equality  was  the  cradle  and  nursery  of  the  Slavi  for  un 
counted  centuries ;  even  the  mentioning  of  its  name  is 
prohibited  to  all  those  engaged  in  the  public  service.  For 
officials,  professors  of  schools  and  universities,  it  is  out 
lawed  by  the  most  severe  penalties,  such  as  expulsion 
from  the  service  or  imprisonment.  The  name  of  Pan- 
slavism  is  never  to  be  used  in  speech  or  print.  A  similar 
proscription  and  similar  penalties  are  imposed  on  the  writ 
ing  of  the  history  of  modern  times,  or  the  reign  of  the 
Czar.  Any  publication  on  this  subject  is  to  be  submitted 
to  the  censorship  of  the  Minister  of  the  Household,  or 
Major-Domo  of  the  Palace,  a  General-Field-Marshal  of 
the  Russian  army.  And  every  year  brings  at  least  one 
new  measure  designed  to  blot  out  light  and  life,  and  cov 
ers  Russia  with  ukases  concocted  in  the  workshop  of 


THE    CZAR    NICHOLAS.  59 

darkness.     And  thus  the  Czar  fulfils  the  prophecy  flashed 
but  by  Lermonteeff  shortly  before  his  death  : 

Skazal  umu,  He  said  to  the 'mind  : 

Jdi  wo  tmu  ;  •  Go  into  darkness ; 

J  podpisal ;  And  signed  it ; 

"  Byt  po  siemu ;  "  Be  it  so,* 

"  Czar  Nikolai."  «  Czar  Nikolai." 

All  branches  of  the  internal  administration  have  been 
treated  in  the  same  manner.  Every  where  prevails  the 
most  blind  and  dirty  favoritism  and  falsehood.  Corrup 
tion  and  venality  have  thus  reconquered  the  ground  they 
had  lost.  Men  of  the  most  impure  character — deprived 
of  any,  even  the  smallest  glow  of  honorable  feelings,  as, 
for  instance,  Count  Kleinmichel  and  General  Dubellt,  are 
the  almighty  favorites  or  the  informing  souls  of  the  ruler. 

Thus  disorder  and  oppression  gnaw  again  the  marrow 
of  Russia.  Advancing  in  years,  the  Czar  hates  to  see 
around  him  new  faces,  or  to  admit  them  to  his  cabinet, 
and  especially  those  who  might  exhibit  independent  ten 
dencies,  or  straight-forward,  honest  veracity.  This  has 
above  all  been  shown  by  him  in  selecting  Secretaries  of 
the  Treasury  or  of  Finance.  The  old  Count  Cancrin  who 
was  named  to  this  post  shortly  after  the  ascension  of  Nich 
olas — introduced  therein  some  order,  some  economical 
notions — restored  and  replenished  the  cash-box,  which  re 
mained  empty  after  the  fatal  disorganization,  disorder  and 
plundering  that  flourished  openly  during  the  last  years 
of  Alexander,  and  the  secretaryship  of  Count  Gurieff. 
Cancrin  knew  how  to  resist  the  lavish  exigencies  of  the 
young  sovereign,  and  Nicholas  often  thankfully  yielded 

*  These  are  the  sacramental  words  by  which  the  Emperor  sign? 
the  laws  and  ukases. 


60  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

to  the  adviser.  But  when  after  the  death  of  the  Count 
the  vacant  post  was  to  be  filled,  the  Czar  very  carefully 
looked  for  a  man  who  would  obey  blindly,  without  making 
in  any  case  the  slightest  remonstrance.  Such  was  the 
Count  Wrontschenko,  such  is  his  successor  Brock,  a  ser 
vile  German. 

The  financial  state  of  the  National  or  Imperial  Trea 
sury  grows  worse  and  worse  every  year.  However,  no 
confusion  ought  to  be  made  between  this  and  the  real  re 
sources  of  Russia.  These  are,  in  themselves,  inexhaust 
ible,  and  on  them  is  based  the  credit  which  the  Empire, 
on  the  whole,  justly  enjoys.  But  notwithstanding  the  ap 
parent  state  of  things,  the  productive  powers,  which  yield 
such  results  even  under  the  most  unpropitious  conditions 
and  the  most  unfavorable  circumstances,  are  really  as  yet 
only  in  a  latent  state,  and  cannot  be  evoked  into  growth 
and  true  activity  without  order  and  liberty.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  fever  of  lavish  wastefulness  increases  in  the 
Czar  more  and  more — and  this  fever  must  be  gratified  at 
any  cost.  Thus  the  finances  become  more  and  more  em 
barrassed,  since  not  all  the  resources  of  the  nation  and  of 
the  soil  are  within  the  greedy  grasp  of  the  Imperial  Trea 
sury.  Direct  taxation  is  not  known  in  Russia.  The  no 
bility  cannot  be  directly  taxed,  neither  can  the  soil  nor 
the  serfs.  The  latter  pay  only  a  small  capitation  tax  of 
about  a  dollar  a  head,  which  income  is  destined  to  main 
tain  tHe  local  administration  of  the  different  provinces,  or 
governments,  as  they  are  called.  But  millions  of  this  tax 
remain  for  years  and  years  unpaid — and  this  arrearage 
increases  and  extends  daily.  Whole  provinces  must  some 
times  be  exempted  on  account  of  real  impossibility,  result 
ing  as  well  from  drouth  or  storms  as  from  a  bad,  oppressive, 
disordered,  unprincipled  and  irrational  management  of  the 
genuine  riches  of  the  nation  and  of  the  soil.  Thus  many 


THE    CZAR    NICHOLAS.  61 

begin  already  to  foresee  the  not  distant  hour  when  the  ac 
tual  financial  resources  will  give  way  to  that  extent  that 
the  internal  service  will  remain  unpaid. 

The  principal  revenues  of  the  Empire  consist  in  the 
monopoly  of  the  sale  of  all  kinds  of  liquors — the  product 
of  the  custom-houses  and  the  rent  paid  by  the  crown  do 
mains.  Other  branches,  as  stamps,  mines,  &c.,  are  com 
paratively  rather  insignificant.  To  increase  the  income 
from  the  custom-houses  a  duty  is  laid  on  exports  of  the 
national  products.  The  whole  revenue  may  amount  to 
125  and  130  millions  of  dollars.  Of  this  amount,  nearly 
the  half  is  yielded  by  the  liquor  monopoly  5  the  custom 
houses  give  about  26  millions,  the  crown  domains  about 
34  millions,  as  far  as  any  faith  can  be  put  in  official  pub 
lications.  But,  above  all,  official  statements  concerning 
the  finances  should  be  mistrusted ;  and  in  Russia  every 
thing  is  official.  Nearly  two  thirds  of  the  entire  revenue 
is  absorbed  in  the  maintenance  of  the  immense  army  and 
navy.  However  small  the  real  pay  of  the  soldiers  and 
officers,  the  plundering  in  this  branch  of  the  service  is  be 
yond  calculation.  The  remainder  of  the  revenue,  after 
deducting  the  arrearages  of  several  departments,  but  prin 
cipally  of  the  crown  domains,  has  to  maintain  the  general 
administration,  pay  the  interest  of  the  public  debt,  sup- 
pdrt  the  large  imperial  family,  and  finally  supply  the  ex 
penditures  of  the  emperor  upon  his  favorites  and  his  lavish 
extravagance  otherwise,  for  which  his  private  personal  in 
come  fails  by  many  and  many  millions  to  suffice. 

A  great  deal  of  talk  has  been  occasioned  in  the  news 
papers  by  the  investment  which  the  Czar  made  some 
years  ago  in  the  British  and  French  securities.  This 
was  nothing  but  a  master  piece  of  vanity  and  bragging, 
and  it  was  really  curious  to  read  the  incongruous  specula 
tions  of  journalists,  economists  and  statesmen,  such  as  M. 


b2  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

Thiers,  for  example,  in  regard  to  it.  This  puzzling  in* 
vestment  was  made  after  a  year  of  a  general  failure  of 
crops  through  the  whole  of  Europe,  with  the  exception  of 
Russia,  which  thus  exported  wheat  to  the  value  of  more 
than  eight  millions  of  dollars.  The  above-mentioned  phi 
losophers  unanimously  discovered  that  the  money  invested 
by  the  Emperor  was  nothing  else  than  that  paid  to  Russia 
for  her  breadstuffs.  Happily  for  the  pockets  of  the  Rus 
sian  land- owners,  this  was  not  the  case.  That  money 
went  directly  to  them.  Some  few  hundred  thousand  dol 
lars  only  paid  by  the  buyers  went  into  the  custom-houses 
in  the  shape  of  export  duty.  Thus  this  celebrated  invest 
ment  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  result  of  that  year's 
wheat  trade.  The  truth  is,  that  the  Treasury  and  the 
public  banks  could  at  that  time  easily  command  the  re 
quired  sum  of  money,  and  thus  rendered  easy  of  gratifica 
tion  the  vainglorious  egotism  of  the  Czar.  Financially 
speaking,  this  investment  was  nonsense.  Russia  has  a 
public  debt,  and  pays  for  it  a  rate  of  interest  far  supe 
rior  to  that  paid  by  the  Bank  of  France.  If,  then,  the 
Imperial  Treasury  possessed  these  superabundant  mil 
lions,  the  best  possible  investment  would  have  been  in 
the  national  debt  at  home.  Shortly  afterward,  the  same 
Minister  of  Finance  who  sent  the  imperial  millions  to 
Paris  and  London  had  to  make  a  loan  for  the  Petersburg 
and  Moscow  Railroad.  This  offered  another  occasion  to 
invest  profitably  the  surplus  funds  of  the  Emperor,  as  the 
interest  paid  for  this  loan  exceeded  that  received  from 
France.  We  must  add  that  the  whole  of  this  noisy  finan 
cial  operation  was  duly  appreciated  by  the  sober  part  of 
the  nation,  and  by  no  means  excited  their  admiration  so 
much  as  it  did  that  of  foreigners. 

The  wants  of  the  treasury  increase  almost  daily,  and 
to  meet  them  taxes  are  levied  on  the  citizens  or  burghers. 


THE    CZAR    NICHOLAS.  63 

the  peasants,  and  the  serfs  of  the  crown  domain.  The 
approximative  revenues  of  the  Empire  amount,  as  already 
stated,  to  some  $  1 30,000,000.  The  national  debt  is  nearly 
$320,000,000.  The  yearly  interest  thereon  is  more  than 
$2 0  000, 000 — a  little  more  than  6  per  cent,  on  the  whole. 
The  war  of  Hungary  contributed  mightily  to  drain  the 
already  depleted  treasury.  This  war,  and  all  the  military 
manifestations  since,  outrun  considerably  the  current  re 
venues — the  real  official  resources  of  the  Government.  It 
is  true,  that  in  case  of  need,  extraordinary  measures  can 
be  resorted  to.  The  banks  and  their  deposits  are  within 
the  grasp  of  the  needy  rulers,  who  resort  to  them,  and 
will  do  so  more  and  more,  whatever  may  be  officially  said 
to  the  contrary.  There  are  no  accumulated  savings  in 
the  treasury,  no  possibility  to  make  such,  and  no  thought 
of  it. 

Every  year  there  is  published  a  pompous  announce 
ment  of  a  deposit  of  bullion  from  the  mines,  made  in  the 
presence  of  an  official  deputation  from  the  merchants  of 
St.  Petersburg,  in  the  vaults  of  the  fortress  of  Peter  and 
Paul.  This  bullion  is  announced  as  representing  or  giv 
ing  security  to  the  paper  currency  in  circulation.  But 
this  circulation  is  perfectly  arbitrary,  and  the  Govern 
ment,  in  putting  it  forth,  is  entirely  free  from  control. 
The  proportion  of  bills  to  the  deposited  metal  is,  at  least, 
as  three  to  one.  This  bullion  deposit  was  used  for  the 
war  of  Hungary,  and  thus  reduced  to  a  great  extent ;  but 
the  emission  of  bank-bills  was  proportionally  augmented. 
This  fact,  without  being  publicly  spoken  of,  is  well  known 
in  Russia.  As  to  the  confidence  enjoyed  by  the  bank- 
bills,  it  has  its  source  in  the  confidence  of  the  nation,  in 
its  own  vitality,  as  well  as  in  commercial  exigencies.  The 
colossal  internal  trade  throughout  the  whole  Empire, 
extending,  as  it  does,  from  the  frontiers  of  Germany 


64  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

to  Katai,  and  from  the  frozen  ocean  to  the  bounda 
ries  of  Persia  and  Arabia,  does  not  receive  the  aid  of 
private  or  public  bank-drafts,  or  of  bills  of  exchange 
drawn  by  merchants  and  serving  as  a  circulating  medium, 
but  is  almost  exclusively  carried  on  either  by  barter  or 
for  ready-money.  The  banking-houses  in  the  several 
cities  on  the  Baltic,  and  those  in  Moscow,  Odessa,  and 
Petersburg,  are  rather  for  the  convenience  of  the  foreign 
trade.  A  wealthy  merchant,  for  example,  from  Moscow 
or  Petersburg,  making  purchases  of  breadstuffs,  flax, 
ashes,  tallow,  hides,  etc.,  in  the  interior  of  the  Empire, 
must  carry  with  him,  or  through  his  agents,  hundreds  of 
thousands  in  money,  to  pay  instantly  on  the  spot  to  the 
smaller  merchants  in  the  interior.  When  he  has  brought 
his  merchandise  to  the  place  of  exportation,  he  sells  it  to 
the  foreign  exporter  mostly  again  for  ready  money.  Few, 
if  any,  Russians  are  themselves  exporters. 

Now,  it  is  easy  to  conceive,  that  when  travelling,  the 
carrying  about  one's  person  of  such  considerable  sums  is 
easier,  and  above  all  safer,  in  paper  money  than  it  could 
be  in  coin.  Here  is  the  great  arcanum  of  the  credit  of 
the  bills  notwithstanding  their  excessive  emission  in  pro 
portion  to  the  basis  on  which  they  are  issued.  At  all  the 
great  internal  fairs  at  which  tradesmen  meet  together, 
from  all  parts  of  the  Empire  as  well  as  from  the  far  East 
— as,  for  example,  at  that  of  Nischnei-Novgorod — no 
drafts,  no  bills  of  exchange  are  to  be  seen ;  and  yet,  not 
withstanding  the  imperious  necessity  of  a  paper  currency, 
the  moment  may  come  when  the  trade  will  be  unable  to 
uphold  the  credit  of  the  bills,  and  bankruptcy  will  ensue, 
morally  as  well  as  financially. 

Czarism,  or  rather  the  Czar  himself,  pushed  on  by  un 
avoidable  fatality,  has  sown  mighty  germs  of  disorder  in 
the  nation.  He  was  the  first  to  raise  the  spy  system  tc 


THE    CZAR    NICHOLAS. 


65 


the  supreme  honors  of  the  Court,  and  to  introduce  it 
into  the  Imperial  Councils.  Alexander  looked  on  it  and 
treated  it  as  a  shameful  necessity.  Never  until  now  was 
it  spit  forth  so  directly  into  the  face  of  the  nation,  or  in  so 
offensive  a  manner.  In  fact,  since  the  time  of  Basil  the 
Bloody,  no  such  institution  had  been  directed  by  the  sove 
reign  himself.  This  was  left  for  Nicholas.  He  believes 
that  the  secret  police  and  the  spy  system  are  the  principal 
securities,  the  maya  props  of  his  reign.  Thus  he  has  ren 
dered  the  Police  an  elevated  branch  of  his  Administration. 
Its  commander,  its  chief,  is  the  most  intimate  favorite  and 
the  inseparable  companion  of  the  Czar.  So  was  Count 
Benkendorff,  a  German  by  birth,  and  the  original  founder 
of  this  infamous  system.  And  it  may  be  observed  here, 
that  Germans  and  Jews  are  its  principal  agents  and  direc 
tors,  and  that  very  few  true  born  Russians  seek  for  that 
distinction.  'Unhappily,  the  present  Chief,  Count  Orloff, 
is  one  of  these.  Even  Napoleon  did  not  make  out  of  a 
Fouche,  a  Savary,  or  a  Regnault  de  St.  Jean  d'Angely 
the  first,  men  of  the  Empire,  or  his  nearest  confidants. 
Nothing  of  the  sort — not  even  the  shadow  thereof — dark 
ened  the  lofty  and  pure  mind  of  Peter,  to  whose  footsteps 
Nicholas  believes  he  adapts  his  imperial  feet. 

Once  the  Czar  believed  that  there  was  a  nation  for 
whose  welfare  God  had  sent  him  to  work  and  to  care. 
Now  he  seeks  to  establish  and  to  raise  to  a  creed  the  idea 
that  Czarism  is  the  generator  of  the  nation — that  Czarisin 
was  made  first  and  the  nation  afterward.  But  the  tradi 
tions  of  the  ancient  national  life  are  not  yet  extinguished. 
Thousands  and  thousands,  full  of  hatred  against  the  wily 
debaser,  against  the  group  of  rampant  abettors  who  sur 
round  him,  and  against  his  thousands  of  spies,  silently  but 
surely  kindle  the  glowing  sparks  of  these  sacred  recollec 
tions. 


66  RUSSIA    AS   IT   IS. 

In  relation  to  Europe,  to  the  outward  and  ultra-Rus 
sian  world,  Nicholas  firmly  and  absolutely  believes  that 
he  is  predestined  to  maintain  the  ancient  tottering  order, 
to  shelter  and  restore  legitimacy,  to  combat  and  conquer 
the  forces  of  hell,  represented  by  progress,  light,  and  the 
emancipatory  revolution.  He  is  a  true  believer  of  the 
school  of  Alison,  Haller,  De  Maistre,  and  Bonald.  This 
faith  in  his  vocation  explains  the  generosity  of  his  conduct 
toward  Austria  after  the  affair  of  Hungary.  He  even — 
for  the  first  time  in  his  life — forgave,  on  that  event,  the 
house  of  Hapsburg  for  the  most  cruel,  the  most  deadly  of 
fence  which  could  have  been  inflicted  on  the  heart  and 
feelings  of  a  father,  and  on  the  honor  of  a  man. 

Once  he  recognized  the  idea  of  the  supremacy  of  the 
law.  This  was  something.  It  was  a  recognition  of  the 
persona  Juris  in  his  subjects.  But  now  the  law  is  himself, 
his  will,  his  wish.  Thus  he  is  the  only  persona  in  the 
empire — others  are  in  reality  merely  things — and  persons 
so  far  as  his  will  allows  them  to  be  such,  so  long  as  they 
submit  to  move  within  the  iron  limits  of  his  whims  and  of 
his  narrowing  notions.  Intellectual  life — even  physical 
life — can  be  allowed  to  exist  only  so  far  as  they  assimi 
late  themselves  and  support  the  control  exercised  by  Czar- 
ism.  But  Nicholas  has  stretched  the  reins  to  such  a 
rigidity  that  every  body  is  hurt  and  wounded,  from  the 
magnate  down  to  the  serf.  Every  class  feels  the  debase 
ment — feels  that  by  him  all  vitality,  all  individuality  ex 
cept  his  own,  are  absorbed  or  annihilated.  Nearly  seventy 
millions  of  human  beings  are,  after  all,  mere  chattels,  liv 
ing  only  for  him  and  through  his  imperial  concession.  It 
is  so  now — but  last  it  cannot.  This  tension  will  break 
the  reins,  if  not  in  his  own  hands,  in  those  of  his  successor. 
Those  who  pronounce  his  name  with  a  curse  are  numerous, 
and  belong  to  all  social  classes — and  more  numerous  are 


THE    CZAR    NICHOLAS.  67 

they  who  are  choked  by  the  words  "  Czar"  and  "  Nicholas'1 
— and  never  stain  their  lips  with  them.  These  unyield 
ing  elements  I  will  hereafter  point  out  and  enumerate. 

Thus  the  brilliancy  which  surrounds  this  man,  and 
which  is  admired  from  a  distance,  and  worshipped  by  the 
retrogrades  and  absolutists,  is  spurious,  or  at  least  it  is 
the  last  glimmer  cast  by  the  falling  meteor.  The  body 
gnawed  by  consumption  corruscates  the  most  brilliant  hue 
just  before  the  knell  of  death!  So  it  is  with  Czarism,  or 
else  there  would  be  neither  truth,  justice,  nor  logic  in  the 
creation. 

Aside  from  these  explosive  matters  which  are  inherent 
in  the  nature  of  Czarism  and  accumulated  by  the  sombre 
coarseness  of  the  Czar — by  which  every  slightest  aspiration 
of  manhood  is  maimed  and  crushed,  and  the  intellectual,  the 
rational,  as  well  as  the  physical  activity  of  the  nation,  de 
based,  curtailed,  trodden  down  with  an  unvarying  purpose, 
— aside  from  this,  there  exist  still  other  elements  apparently 
of  a  less  dangerous  character — but  so  new,  so  unwonted 
in  the  political  life  of  Russia,  that  they  are  portentous  for 
the  future  of  the  system.  One  of  these  is  the  present  ex 
tent  of  the  Imperial  family,  which  in  all  probability  will, 
before  long,  be  augmenting  continually  at  a  rapid  ratio, 
and  this  just  at  a  tim'e  when  the  scales  begin  to  fall  from 
the  eyes  of  the  nation — when  the  breeze  of  thought  agitates 
however  slowly  the  public  mind,  and  when,  what  is  worse 
still,  the  people  at  large  begin  to  ponder  silently,  to  judge, 
fo  appreciate,  to  compare,  and  even  to  calculate  the  cost 
of  maintaining  Czarism.  The  celebrated  journey  of  the 
Imperial  family  to  Italy,  in  1846,  which  in  eight  months, 
cost  about  $8,000,000,  occasioned  great  growling  among 
all  classes,  and  principally  among  the  bourgeoisie  of  Mos 
cow,  and  of  the  cities  of  the  interior.  And  these  expen 
sive  journeys  are  repeated  yearly  by  the  whole  numerous 
progeny  of  the  Czar. 


68  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

For  more  than  six  centuries  there  has  not  been  such 
an  extensive  Imperial  stock  as  the  present.  It  amounts 
to  sixteen  persons,  beside  the  father  and  mother.  All  of 
them  are  young,  and  may  thus  double  in  number  within 
the  next  twenty  years.  All  of  them  are  in  the  present 
and  in  the  future,  "  Grand  Dukes,"  and  "  Imperial  High 
nesses,"  all  of  them  are  to  be  maintained  on  an  Imperial 
footing — with  separate  attendants,  establishments  or  small 
courts — not  to  mention  their  rivalries,  intrigues,  difficul 
ties  and  hateful  contestations,  influencing  public  affairs. 
Thus  it  has  always  been  and  always  will  be,  when  a  sove 
reign  family  increases,  and  still  is  forced  to  live  thronged 
together.  But  all  are  and  must  be  provided  for  by  the 
nation.  For  many  reasons,  such  a  state  of  things  must 
become  insufferable,  and  all  the  more  so,  at  an  era  when 
the  nation  begins  to  feel  its  own  individuality.  As  to 
framing  or  cutting  out  distant  vice-royalties  for  these  per 
sons,  and  thus  dividing  and  breaking  the  unity  of  the  Em 
pire — such  a  thing  is  out  of  the  question,  now,  or  in  a 
more  distant  future.  The  national  spirit,  the  national 
genius — will  not  bend  and  endure  it,  and  even  the  present 
almighty  Czar  would  not  dare  to  undertake  such  a  mea 
sure. 

Thus  escorted,  Czarism  runs  out  its  course  and  is 
dragged  toward  the  abyss.  Thus  loaded,  Czar  Nikolai 
will  appear  in  history,  as  fatally  precipitating  into  inevi 
table  destruction  the  power  embodied  in  his  person.  The 
growth  of  the  seeds  with  which  he  thus  abundantly  cov 
ered  the  national  soil,  their  detailed  action  on  all  the  con 
ventional  gradations  of  Russian  social  life,  is  already  vis 
ible.  In  following  chapters  they  will  be  pointed  out  one 
by  one,  as  well  as  the  capacity  of  Russia  and  her  people 
to  frame  for  themselves  new  and  bright  destinies,  in  har 
mony  with  the  general  laws  of  human  happiness. 


ORGANIZATION    OF    THE    GOVERNMENT.  69 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

THE  actual  organization  of  the  government,  administrative 
as  well  as  judiciary,  is  the  work  of  Peter  the  Great. 
Subsequently  to  him,  however,  some  changes  and  modifi 
cations  have  been  introduced.  Previously  to  the  time  of 
the  reforms  of  Peter  the  governmental  machinery  was  not 
so  complicated.  In  introducing  the  changes,  Peter  in 
some  instances  maintained,  however,  the  old  institutions, 
giving  them  only  a  new,  mostly  Germanic,  name. 

Anciently  the  Grand  Duke,  or  Czar,  was  surrounded 
by  a  council  called  duma  (which  signifies  thought,  du- 
niatij  to  think).  This  council  was  presided  over  by  the 
sovereign  in  person.  At  that  epoch  the  patriarch  could 
sometimes  assist  in  its  deliberations.  It  was  formed  ex 
clusively  of  the  principal  nobility,  and  of  mediatized  prin 
ces,  that  is,  of  those  who  once  possessed  independent 
sovereignties,  with  the  Grand  Dukes  as  lords  paramount, 
but  whose  possessions  became  finally  absorbed  in  the 
grand  unity.  Such  a  councillor  was  called  dumny  boiar, 
a  boyard  of  the  council,  and  this  was  the  highest  dignity  and 
official  title  in  the  state.  The  provinces  were  administered 
most  generally  by  such  boyards,  having  very  extensive 
powers.  Their  title  then  was  that  of  wolewoda^  signifying 


70  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

the  war-leader.  This  name  and  dignity — used  likewise  in 
Poland  ever  since  the  close  of  the  tenth  century,  and  in 
troduced  by  Bolesuas  the  Great — was  falsely  translated 
there  into  that  of  palatinus — palatin,  to  which  it  has  no 
relation.  The  woiewoda  in  time  of  war  summoned  the 
people  to  arms,  and  led  them  in  person  to  the  place  where 
the  whole  army  of  the  country  was  to  be  united  or  to  meet 
the  enemy.  The  internal  administration  of  the  cities  and 
communes,  in  the  provinces,  was  made  by  boards  and  du- 
mas,  elected  by  the  inhabitants,  under  the  sanction  and 
direction  of  the  woiewoda.  He  corresponded  directly 
with  the  sovereign  and  his  duma. 

In  the  duma  the  current  business  was  performed  by 
clerks  of  the  council.  Their  name  was  dumny  dlak  or 
dlatschek.  They  were  really  the  laborious  and  intellec 
tual  part  of  the  council,  and  thus  very  influential  and  much 
respected,  while  their  hierarchal  standing  was  very  high. 

Peter  the  Great  principally  modelled  his  administra 
tive  reforms  on  the  Swedish  and  partly  on  the  Dutch  stand 
ard.  He  introduced  various  boards,  or  colleges,  for  inter 
nal  inferior  administration,  and  for  some  offices  maintained 
even  their  foreign  denomination.  Thus,  for  assessor  of 
college,  Kolejskiy  assessor.  Nay,  even  from  the  Chinese 
Peter  borrowed  the  official  classification  of  the  civil  and 
military  service* — imitating  thus  that  of  the  Mandarins. 
By  this  classification  the  precedency  and  social  superiority 
was  no  more  lodged  in  the  nobiliar  title  but  became  de 
pendent  on  the  degree  reached  in  the  public  service  by 
this  half-social,  half-official  ladder.  Even  the  inheritance 
of  the  nobiliar  privilege  was  made  to  depend  on  the  public 
service,  as  well  as  the  intitulations :  as,  for  example,  those 
of  well-born,  high  well-born,  excellency,  illustris,  illustris- 

*  See  Appendix  B. 


ORGANIZATION    OF    THE    GOVERNMENT.  71 

simus,  etc.,  attached  to  the  official  dignity,  and  not  to  that 
derived  from  birth.  A  prince,  kniaz,  however,  and  a 
count  maintain  their  special  intitulation,  that  of  serenis- 
sime,  through  all  degrees  of  the  service. 

Peter  did  this  to  force  the  boyards  to  go  through  all  the 
classes  of  the  public  service,  which  from  ancient  times  be 
longed  exclusively  to  the  nobility.  Previous  to  his  reign 
the  nobles  not  only  evaded  and  refused  to  serve  in  the 
lower  public  offices,  but  refused  to  serve  or  to  obey  even 
in  war  any  one  of  more  recent  nobiliar  title.  This  strug 
gle,  or  contest  for  precedence,  is  known  in  the  Russian 
history  under  the  name  of  miestnitschestwo.  To  stop 
this  Alexis,  the  father  of  Peter,  had  already  ordered  the 
nobility  to  show  him  all  their  pedigrees,  and  had  burnt 
them  publicly  in  Moscow. 

By  the  introduction  of  this  classification  every  noble 
man  belongs  to  the  service  and  to  one  of  the  classes  whence 
he  derives  his.  standing.  Even  the  right  to  be  admitted 
to  the  court  depends  on  this.  This  right  for  those  who  do 
not  belong  to  the  civil  or  military  household  of  the  sove 
reign,  begins  with  the  fourth  class,  that  of  the  real  coun 
cillor  of  state,  dieystwitelnyl  statskij  sow'ietmk.  Their 
wives  share  this  privilege,  but  not  their  children.  The 
dignity  of  a  kniaz  or  count,  without  that  derived  from 
office,  does  not  open  the  doors  of  the  court. 

All  supreme  governmental,  administrative,  judici 
ary,  and  legislative  powers  reside,  of  course,  undivided, 
and  were  so  for  long  centuries,  in  the  person  of  the  auto 
crat.  Thus  the  ancient  duma  possessed  no  independent 
attributes.  Peter  abolished  the  duma,  and  replaced  it  by 
a. board  called  the  Senate.  This  was  only  a  change  of  a 
national  for  a  foreign  denomination,  as  the  Russian  Senate 
has  none  of  the  powers  connected  with  the  senatorial  dig 
nity  as  generally  understood^  Peter  often  presided  in  his 


72  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

Seriate — which  is  a  strictly  executive  and  supreme  branch  of 
the  administration.  Its  name  of  prawitelstwuiouschtschyl 
Senat  (governing  senate)  proclaims  this.  It,  in  this  respect, 
was,  and  is  the  arm  of  the  autocrat. 

Under  the  reign  of  the  Empress  Anna  a  Council  of  the 
Empire  was  formed,  and  the  personal  contact  of  the  so 
vereign  with  the  Senate  annulled  for  ever.  The  sove 
reigns  now  are  surrounded  by  this  council,  and  do  the 
work  with  the  ministers.  The  council  is  sometimes  pre 
sided  over  by  the  sovereign,  who  fills  it  with  individuals 
according  to  his  personal  choice  and  will.  It  has  a  presi 
dent  and  a  vice-president.  It  deliberates  and  decides  in 
all  matters  whether  administrative,  legislative  or  judi 
ciary,  which  are  sent  to  it  by  the  Emperor.  The  deci 
sions  are  by  vote.  But  the  proceedings  are  submitted  to 
the  sovereign,  who  decides  between  the  majority  and  the 
minority,  or  substitutes  for  both  his  special  personal  deci 
sion.  This  becomes  law.  All  the  ministers  or  secretaries 
of  state  are  members  of  the  council.  They  form  in  it  a 
separate  committee  of  ministers,  where  certain  subjects 
are  debated  previously  to  their  being  submitted  to  the 
general  council.  The  council  is  subdivided  into  special 
divisions.  In  addition  to  the  council  and  the  various 
state  departments,  there  is  a  personal  Imperial  Chancery, 
divided  into  various  branches.  Their  chiefs  are  some 
times  ministers ;  and  if  not,  they  take  precedence  of  them. 
These  branches  prepare  all  matters  connected  with  the  su 
preme  power,  and  elucidate  and  elaborate  them  for  the  de 
cision  of  the  imperial  chancery.  Among  the  branches  of 
this  chancery  there  is,  for  example,  that  of  request  and 
grace,  where  all  the  petitions  directed  to  the  sovereign  are 
referred.  Thus  even  appeals  from  the  supreme  judicial 
decisions  come  under  the  attributes  of  this  branch.  The 
judgments  are  investigated  and  documents  read  there,  then 


ORGANIZATION    OF    THE    GOVERNMENT.  73 

submitted  to  the  Emperor,  who  can  decide  on  them  alone, 
or  send  them  to  be  deliberated  upon  by  the  Council  of  the 
Empire. 

In  another  branch  resides  what  would  be  named  the 
legislative  power.  This  branch  is  called  that  of  the  law. 
There  all  laws  are  projected  and  elaborated,  submitted 
then  by  the  sovereign  to  the  committee  of  the  ministers,  and 
then  to  the  council.  Another  branch  is  that  of  the  general 
police,  principally  devoted  to  the  espionage  or  spy-system. 
This  is  the  favorite  one  at  the  present  moment.  One  of 
the  departments  of  this  chancery  directs  and  administers 
the  crown  domain  with  about  twenty-two  millions  of  popu 
lation  ;•< another  presides  over  the  imperial  stud,  etc. 

The  various  state  departments  and  those  of  the  per 
sonal  chancery  form  in  all  eighteen  branches,  all  under  the 
personal  and  supreme  direction  of  the  sovereign.  To  this 
must  be  added  the  separated  administrations  of  Poland, 
Finland.  Caucasus  and  Georgia,  whose  chiefs  depend  di 
rectly  on  the  Emperor.  The  secretaries  for  these  admin 
istrations,  the  directors  of  the  chancery,  and  the  minis 
ters,  report  personally  to  the  sovereign.  Each  has  special 
days  and  hours  for  this,  at  least  once  a  week.  At  a 
time  appointed  the  special  matters  must  be  brought,  ela 
borated,  and  ready  for  decision.  The  minister  of  foreign 
affairs,  that  of  the  war  department,  and  of  the  police,  have 
alone  access  to  the  sovereign  day  and  night. 

It  is  evident  that  whatever  may  or  could  be  the  men 
tal  capacities  of  a  sovereign,  his  decisions,  concerning  very 
often  insignificant  and  personal  matters,  as  well  as  others 
of  great  weight  and  influence  over  the  destiny  of  millions, 
can  rarely  be  thoroughly  and  satisfactorily  matured.  Ev 
ery  subject  comes  before  him,  even  the  drawings  and 
plans  of  the  most  insignificant  public  buildings.  Personal 
punishments  and  rewards  of  the  innumerable  crowds  of 


74  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

civil  and  military  officers,  are  decided  by  his  will.  Any 
public  accident  in  the  empire  ought  to  be  reported  to 
him.  Every  member  of  the  chain  of  the  administration 
evades,  as  much  possible,  taking  the  responsibility  of  an 
act  which  could  Displease  in  any  way  or  other,  and  thus 
asks  the  decision  of  that  one  above  him.  Thus  the  ques 
tion  ascends  from  degree  to  degree,  until  it  reaches  the 
Emperor  himself.  In  proportion  as  the  empire  extends, 
the  internal  administration  becomes  more  and  more  com 
plex,  as  new  wants  start  into  existence  almost  daily,  and 
necessarily  to  be  satisfied  in  some  way  or  other,  as  well 
for  the  sake  of  the  ruled  as  of  the  ruler.  Whatever  may 
be  the  magnitude  and  the  strength  of  the  autocratic  grasp, 
it  is  clear  that  to  encircle  every  thing  becomes  more 
and  more  impossible.  Neither  time  nor  human  strength 
are  sufficient  for  such  a  superhuman  task.  Thus  the 
decisions  of  the  sovereign  naturally  depend  nearly  exclu 
sively  upon  the  way  in  which  the  subject  is  laid  before 
him.  In  most  cases  he  either  yields  or  wholly  submits  to 
the  opinion  of  the  reporting  minister.  Thus  the  real 
power,  especially  concerning  personal  matters,  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  ministers ;  and  this  is  the  source  of  many 
acts  of  injustice,  which  loudly  call  for  correction. 

Next  to  the  Council  of  the  Empire  and  the  ministers 
come  the  body  of  the  Senate.  Its  origin  has  been  already 
mentioned.  Its  attributes  are  various  and  complicated. 
It  is  the  chief  regulator  of  the  administrative  machinery. 
All  imperial  ukases  and  decisions,  concerning  general  as 
well  as  special  personal  matters,  are  addressed  and  sent 
to  the  Senate  for  promulgation  and  execution.  The  Sen 
ate  has  a  president  of  general  meetings.  It  is  divided 
into  several  departments,  extending  its  ramification  to 
Moscow  and  Warsaw,  where  there  are  separate  depart 
ments  of  the  Senate,  with  judicial,  civil,  and  criminal  pow- 


ORGANIZATION    OF   THE    GOVERNMENT.  75 

ers.  The  Senate  forms  the  supreme  court  in  all  such  mat 
ters,  and  from  its  decisions  appeal  can  be  made  only  to 
the  sovereign  The  Senate  is  the  disciplinary  court  for  all 
civil  officers  of  whatever  rank.  The  Minister  of  Justice 
fills  the  duty  of  Procurator  or  Attorney- General  of  the 
Senate.  If  he  finds  it  necessary,  he  has  the  power  to  re 
verse  the  judicial  decisions  of  any  department  of  the  Sen 
ate,  and  oblige  it  to  try  the  case  again ;  and  if  he  still 
disagrees  with  it,  he  can  call  a  general  meeting  of  the 
whole  body  to  decide  the  case.  Such  a  decision  is  final. 
Criminal  condemnations  are  always  submitted  to  the  ap 
probation  of  the  Emperor. 

The  order  to  be  preserved  in  the  various  ranks  and 
degrees,  according  to  the  classification  of  the  civil  ser 
vice,  is  of  eminent  consequence  for  those  concerned  in  it, 
all  ultimate  advancement  and  distribution  of  rewards  and 
favors  depending  on  this  classification.  The  rolls  and  re 
cords  are  kept  by  the  Senate.  It  also  keeps  the  pedi 
grees  and  heraldic  documents  of  the  nobility,  so  that  to  be 
confirmed  or  admitted  into  this  privileged  body  its  deci 
sion  is  necessary. 

The  sale  of  liquors  is  the  exclusive  property  of  the 
crown  in  Russia  proper  (not  so  in  Poland,  Lithuania,  and 
other  European  annexed  provinces),  and  forms  the  princi 
pal  branch  of  the  public  revenue.  This  sale  is  farmed  by 
individuals  for  several  counties  together,  and  forms  then  a 
kind  of  monopoly.  The  Government  farms  it  out  at  public 
auction,  before  the  Senate  and  the  Minister  of  Finance. 

Thus  in  all  its  attributes  the  Senate  is  an  adminis 
trative  and  executive  body.  It  is  not  even  a  council.  Its 
name  occasions  abroad  many  mistakes  on  account  of  its 
formation  and  political  power.  But  in  its  legal  action  it 
has  now  no  personal  contact  with  the  sovereign,  but  only 
submissively  and  humbly  records  his  decisions.  It  has 


76  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

no  initiative,  is  never  consulted,  has  no  voice,  no  power  or 
right  to  deliberate,  or  even  to  make  suggestions,  objec 
tions,  or  representations.  The  laws  and  ukases  reach  the 
Senate  ready-made  ;  it  simply  publishes  and  brings  them 
into  operation.  In  order  to  do  this,  the  Senate  is  neces 
sarily  in  official  contact  with  the  special  ministers. 

Thus,  notwithstanding  that  it  is  nearly  the  highest  civil 
dignity,  the  Senate  exercises  no  influence,  and  even  does 
not  enjoy  any  very  great  consideration.  To  become  a 
senator  one  must  reach  the  third  class  of  the  ladder,  that 
is,  become  a  privy  councillor.  This  requires  some  thirty 
years  spent  in  public  service.  Thus  the  Senate  becomes 
a  hospital  of  civil  invalids,  and  most  of  the  senators  are 
without  any  fitness  or  mental  energy  for  their  work.  The 
clerks  in  the  offices,  in  the  bureaus,  possess  all  the  influ 
ence,  and  direct  the  senators.  In  its  action,  as  the  su 
preme  civil  tribunal,  a  wide  door  is  opened  for  venality, 
and  the  decisions  of  the  Senate  are  often  not  free  from  it. 
They  seldom  contribute  to  inspire  any  respect  for  the  in 
tegrity  and  capacity  of  this  body.  The  dignity  of  a  senator 
is  never  bestowed  on  military  men.  But  by  abandoning 
the  military  and  entering  upon  a  civil  career,  one  can  be 
come  a  senator. 

The  whole  empire  is  divided  into  counties  or  govern 
ments.  Some  parts  form  territories  with  a  special  ad 
ministration.  Such  are  Orenbourg  and  Transcaucasus. 
Each  county  has  a  chief  or  Governor —  Gubernator.  He 
is  nominated  by  the  sovereign.  Such  a  governor  some 
times  unites  the  civil  power  with  military  command  in 
the  city  where  he  resides.  He  ought  to  be  of  the  third 
or  fourth  class.  The  senators  are  generally  made  out  of 
these  governors.  Russia  proper,  or  Great  Russia,  is  com 
posed  of  about  twenty-five  such  special  governments.  The 
provinces  annexed  since  the  time  of  Peter  form  a  kind  of 


ORGANIZATION    OF    THE    GOVERNMENT,  77 

satrapies,  composed  of  three  counties  and  administered 
by  a  chief  called  Governor- General.  He  has  more  power 
than  an  ordinary  governor. 

A  governor  directs  the  administration  and  the  police 
of  the  county.  In  the  administration  he  is  assisted  by  a 
college  or  board  of  councillors,  called  the  government  of 
tile  county — gubernskoe  prawlenie.  This  board  dispatches 
the  current  administrative  business  and  all  such  affairs  as 
are  transmitted  to  it  by  the  governor.  It  forms  a  court 
for  disciplinary  judgment  of  civil  officers.  It  puts  in  exe 
cution  the  judgments  rendered  by  civil  tribunals  concern 
ing  private  property.  The  governor  confirms  the  decisions 
of  the  criminal  tribunal  previous  to  their  being  sent  to  the 
Senate.  The  governor  is  in  official  relation  with  the 
Marshals  and  the  boards  of  the  body  corporate  of  the  no 
bility  of  the  county  ;  he  is  subject  to  imperial  ministers, 
but  in  certain  cases  receives  orders,  and  reports  directly 
to  the  Emperor  himself. 

Each  county  is  divided  into  districts,  whose  police  and 
administration  are  superintended  by  a  civil  officer,  who, 
as  well  as  his  assistants,  are  elected  from  and  by  the  no 
bility.  He  is  called  Isprawnik  (one  who  fulfils,  carries 
through).  He  and  his  board  of  assistants  judge  and  de 
cide  minor  civil  and  correctional  affairs,  concerning  the 
peasants,  and  execute  the  orders  of  the  governor  and  of 
the  prawlenie. 

Cities  are  superintended  by  a  kind  of  city  marshals, 
called politzmeister  in  the  larger,  and  gorodnitschy  (a  Slavic 
name)  in  the  smaller  ones.  These  are  named  by  the  gov 
ernment.  The  remaining  administration  in  cities  is  com 
munal  and  will  be  explained  in  another  chapter — as  well 
as  that  of  the  free  or  crown  peasants. 

Thus  the  power  which  at  the  top  of  the  pyramid  is  ab 
solute,  autocratic,  and  despotic,  runs  off  at  the  base  into 


78  RUSSIA    AS   IT    IS. 

the  commune.  The  base  is  genuine  and  inherent  to  gen 
eral  human  nature — and  at  the  same  time  an  historical 
old  speciality  of  the  Slavi.  The  summit  is  the  result  of 
events,  accidental,  and,  notwithstanding  its  long  duration, 
still  transitory. 

The  administration  of  civil  justice  begins  for  the  no 
bles  at  the  district  conciliatory  court,  then  passes  to  the 
civil  tribunal  of  the  county,  and  finally  to  the  Senate. 
The  case  must  be  written  out  by  both  parties  and  presented 
to  the  courts.  No  oral  pleading  exists,  and  in  Russia 
proper,  there  is  no  such  class  as  lawyers. 

In  criminal  cases,  the  inquest  in  the  country  is  made 
by  the  Isprawnik,  the  district  attorney  and  a  deputy  from 
the  nobility,  if  any  one  of  them  or  of  their  serfs  is  con 
cerned  personally.  In  matters  concerning  free  peasants, 
a  member  from  their  administrative  board  assists.  The 
governor  of  the  county  can  as  he  chooses  intrust  any  body 
with  directing  or  assisting  any  criminal  investigation 
whatever. 

In  cities,  the  politz  master  directs  every  criminal  ar 
rest,  and  presides  over  the  preliminary  proceedings,  assist 
ed  by  deputies  of  the  classes  to  which  the  offender  and 
the  offended  belong. 

The  public  instruction  is  under  the  general  direction 
of  a  Secretary  of  State  or  Minister.  The  whole  empire 
is  divided  into  districts  corresponding  to  the  number  of 
universities,  which  thus  form  the  centres  of  such  districts. 
These  are :  St.  Petersburg,  Moscow,  Kazan,  Charkoff, 
Kijew,  the  .German  or  Baltic  provinces  and  Finland. 
Districts  without  universities  are  :  Odessa  Wilna,  White 
Russia,  and  Warsaw  or  Poland.  For  a  long  period  the 
last  has  had  the  greatest  number  of  public  schools  and 
gymnasia,  open  to  all  inhabitants  without  any  distinction 
whatever,  either  of  class  or  religious  creed.  This  equality 


ORGANIZATION    OF    THE    GOVERNMENT.  79 

was  introduced  into  Poland  by  the  Prussian  government, 
and  subsequently  maintained  by  the  institutions  given  by 
Napolen  ;,  and  are  respected  by  the  present  rulers.  Thus 
the  number  of  youth  receiving  public  education  in  Poland 
nearly  equals  that  of  the  whole  remaining  empire. 

Each  district  is  under  the  direction  of  a  tutor,  poplet- 
schytiel,  chosen  by  the  sovereigns,  generally  from  among 
the  higher  nobility.  The  district  tutor  depends  upon  the 
minister,  and  has  under  his  care  the  university,  the  gym 
nasia,  and  all  other  public  schools  in  the  towns,  as  well  as 
all  private  male  and  female  establishments — and  at  the 
same  time  the  private  tutors  of  both  sexes  who  are  em 
ployed  in  families.  In  each  county  and  district  the  no 
bility  elect  tutors  for  superintending  the  respective  gym 
nasia  and  schools. 

The  government  names  the  chiefs  or  directors  of  the 
gymnasia. 

Such  is  the  general  outline  of  the  administration  of 
th^s  immense  empire.  More  minute  details  will  present 
themselves  when  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  various 
classes  into  which  the  population  is  divided  are  described. 
The  internal  sections  of  this  administrative  network,  sub 
divide  and  complicate  themselves  beyond  measure,  ftach 
successive  acquisition  made  by  Russia,  as  well  as  the  in 
crease  of  population,  creating  new  wants  and  relations, 
activity  and  extension  of  industry  and  trade,  the  con 
tinual  increase  of  manufactures  extend  and  multiply  in 
proportion  the  administrative  entanglements.  It  is  al 
most  impossible  not  to  admit  that  in  the  course  of  time 
this  complication  will  become  unmanageable — and  that 
J-he  loops  of  the  network  will  slip,  under  the  action  of  the 
slightest  internal  commotion. 


80  PRUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE  ARMY  AND  NAVY. 

THE  present  unparalleled  influence  of  the  Czars  on  the 
internal  questions  of  nearly  every  European  nation,  and 
their  haughty  bearing  with  immediate  neighbors,  like  Aus 
tria,  Prussia,  Sweden,  and  Turkey,  as  well  as  with  other 
more  distant  states,  like  Spain,  England  and  France,  re 
sult  partly^from  a  position,  which  geographically  and  stra 
tegically  is  nearly  inexpugnable,  and  partly  from  the  main 
tenance  of  a  numerous  well-drilled  and  well-equipp'ed 
army.  There  are  only  two  sides  of  Russia's  immeasurable 
borders  which  she  needs  seriously  to  defend.  These  are 
the  Western,  through  its  whole  length,  and  partly  the 
sduthern,  from  the  Dniester  to  the  Caucasus.  Along  these 
two  sides  is  raised,  so  to  say,  a  wall  of  bayonets,  guns  and 
pikes,  and  these  moving  machines  can  be  precipitated,  by 
the  nod  of  a  single  will,  in  a  certain  direction,  or  as  far  as 
humanly  possible,  concentrated  on  any  special  point.  If 
attacked,  only  the  extremities  of  Russia,  and  above  all, 
the  unhappy  kingdom  of  Poland,  will  be  ravaged  and  de 
stroyed.  There  she  will  have  to  defend  herself.  Finland 
is  easy  to  be  defended,  especially  as  there  is  no  probability^ 
of  an  attack  by  Sweden ;  and  Finland  being  maintained  in 
all  her  ancient  laws  and  privileges,  and  not  incorporated 


THE    ARMY    AND    NAVY.  81 

legislatively  with  Russia,  prospers  more  than  she  did 
under  the  Swedish  rule,  and  is  thus  not  at  all  disaffected. 
Maritime  cities  and  harbors  may  easily  be  burnt  and  de 
stroyed,  but  after  the  experience  of  Charles  XII.,  and  of 
Napoleon,  there  is  but  little  reason  to  presume  that  any 
invading  army  would  cross  the  Vistula  or  the  Niemen,  the 
Dnieper  or  the  Pruth.  Russia  has  no  militia  of  course, 
with  the  exception  of  that  organized  among  the  subjected 
populations  of  the  Caucasus  and  Georgia.  Her  force  con 
sists  in  an  organized  army  and  navy.  The  army,  with  its 
various  arms,  is  divided  into  corps,  divisions,  brigades, 
regiments,  battalions  and  companies ;  the  cavalry  fnto 
squadrons,  etc.  A  corps  on  full  active  footing  is  composed 
of  three  divisions  of  infantry  and  one  of  cavalry,  with  some 
times  a  division  of  reserve.  The  artillery  of  a  corps  con 
sists  of  1 10  to  115  guns  of  various  calibre.  A  division  is 
composed  of  two  brigades,  a  brigade  of  two  regiments. 
A  regiment  in  full  ought  to  have  four  battalions,  a  battalion 
four  companies,  and  a  company  should  have  between  170 
and  200  men.  All  these  numbers  are  seldom  complete 
except  in  the  Guard  and  a  few  of  the  other  corps. 

According  to  the  official  reports  for  1852,  the  armed 
force  was  in  the  following  state.  The  corps  of  Guards, 
commanded  by  the  Grand  Duke,  the  heir  to  the  Empire, 
is  established  in  St.  Petersburg,  and  for  a  distance  of  1 00 
miles  around  that  city.  It  consists  of  three  divisions  of 
infantry  and  one  of  reserve,  of  four  divisions  of  cavalry, 
a  large  force  of  artillery  with  120  to  140  cannon,  and  a 
special  body  of  field  engineers,  sappers,  and  a  pontoon 
corps.  Next  comes  the  corps  of  the  Grenadiers.  Its  head 
quarters  are  in  the  ancient  city  of  Novgorod,  some  100 
miles  on  the  road  between  Petersburg  and  Moscow.  Its 
regiments  are  established  principally  in  the  military  colo 
nies.  This  corps  has  three  divisions  in  full  of  infantry, 

4* 


82  RUSSU    AS    IT    IS. 

and  one  of  cavalry ;  the  park  of  artillery  amounts  to  be 
tween  115  and  120  pieces.  After  these  two  separate  corps, 
comes  what  is  called  the  active  army.  It  is  composed 
of  six  corps,  or  nearly  twenty  divisions  of  infantry,  six 
divisions  of  regular  cavalry,  with  an  irregular  one  of 
Cossacks,  etc.,  adjoined  in  time  of  war,  and  at  least  700 
pieces  of  artillery.  This  army  is  at  present  commanded 
by  Prince  Paschkie witch.  Its  headquarters  are  at  War 
saw.  It  faces  the  western  frontier  or  Europe  exclusively. 
It  is  quartered  from  the  Baltic,  through  Lithuania  to  the 
Pruth,  the  Black  Sea  and  the  frontiers  of  the  military 
cavalry  colonies  in  South  Russia.  A  separate  corps  occu 
pies  the  city  of  Moscow  and  several  surrounding  counties. 

The  army  of  the  Caucasus  is  composed  of  four  divi 
sions  of  infantry,  one  of  regular  cavalry,  numerous  irregu 
lar  Cossacks  of  various  denominations,  a  body  of  Mussul- 
men  and  militia  from  among  the  natives.  A  division  of 
infantry  occupies  Finland,  and  another  is  scattered  in  Si 
beria.  This  active  army  is  backed  by  a  reserve  composed 
of  25  brigades  of  infantry  and  270  squadrons  of  cavalry. 
The  formation  of  the  reserve  will  be  hereafter  spoken  of. 

The  military  colonies  for  the  infantry  are  formed  prin 
cipally  in  the  government  of  Novgorod,  and  partly  in  those 
of  Pskoff  and  Witebsk.  They  are  divided  into  24  bri 
gades.  The  colonies  for  cavalry  are  in  Southern  Russia, 
in  the  governments  of  Pultawa,  Ekaterynoslaw,  Herson 
in  the  Ukraine,  and  so  forth.  They  amount  to  75  squad 
rons.  To  this  is  to  be  added  the  sappers  and  artillery 
reserve,  with  54  parks  of  heavy  calibre  destined  for  the 
siege  of  fortresses,  the  military  engineers,  and  military 
workmen,  with  a  numerous  train. 

Finally,  there  is  the  guard  of  the  interior,  formed  of 
armed  veterans,  quartered  in  all  the  countries  of  Russia, 
and  performing  in  the  cities  and  boroughs,  the  internal 


THE    ARMY    AND    NAVY.  83 

service.  -It  amounts  to  50  battalions  which,  however,  are 
not  full.  Further,  there  is  a  corps  of  Gendarmes',  con 
taining  eight  brigades,  horse  and  foot,  and  spread  over  the 
whole  empire.  It  is  commanded  by  Count  Orloff,  whose 
function  answers  to  that  of  Chief  of  the  Secret  Political 
Police.  The  gendarmes  fulfil  the  duties  of  the  police 
of  the  army  during  war,  and  of  a  political  police  through 
the  country  at  all  times.  The  officers  of  this  corps  form 
in  all  counties  and  districts  the  knots  of  that  vast  net  of 
espionage  extended  over  Russia  and  the  continent.  They 
are  in  close  connection  with  all  the  agents  of  the  secret 
police. 

The  irregular  cavalry  consists  principally  of  Cossacks. 
There  are  several  denominations  of  them,  derived  mainly 
from  the  regions,  or  the  banks  of  the  rivers  along  which 
they  are  settled.  Their  General  and  Commander  is  the 
Grand  Duke,  the  heir  of  the  empire.  They  are  divided 
as  follows :  1.  The  Cossacks  of  the  Don  or  Tanais. 
These  are  the  most  numerous,  occupying  a  very  rich  and 
extensive  country,  and  enjoying  the  greatest  privileges, 
and  an  independent  military  as  well  as  civil  organization. 
2.  Those  on  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea,  called  Tscherno- 
mortsy.  3.  Those  of  the  line  of  the  Caucasus.  4.  Those 
of  the  county  of  Astrachan.  6.  Those  of  the  territory  of 
Orenbourg.  6.  Those  of  the  river  Ural  (ancient  Jaick). 
7.  Those  of  Siberia.  8.  The  Mestcheracks,  who  are  a 
Kind  of  Tartars.-  9.  The  Cossacks  of  the  region  of  Azoff. 
10.  Those  of  the  Danube.  The  Cossacks  muster  in  all 
765  squadrons,  each  containing  a  few  more  than  a  1 00  men, 
of  which  more  than  a  third  can  be  mobilized.  The  Cos 
sacks  in  time  of  war  are  backed  by  detachments  of  Basch- 
kirs,  Calmouks,  Buriats,  Tunguses,  Mussulmen  from 
trans- Caucasian  regions,  Lesghians,  etc.  These  Asiatic 
irregulars  form  generally  a  kind  of  military  posts  or  chain 


84  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

uniting  the  advancing  army  with  the  mother  country. 
Such  was  the  case,  for  example,  in  1813-14,  when  they 
were  extended  across  the  whole  of  Europe. 

In  conclusion  the  whole  bulk  of  the  armed  land  force 
consists  of  17  corps,  with  4,900  companies  of  infantry,  and 
1,469  squadrons  of  cavalry,  and  330  batteries  of  heavy  or 
light  artillery.  More  than  a  third  of  this  ought  to  be 
deducted,  as  not  capable  of  being  moved  towards  the  ex 
treme  frontiers  of  the  empire,  as  well  as  for  incomplete 
numbers  in  the  various  battalions,  companies,  and  squad 
rons.  The  remainder  makes  up  the  Russian  warfaring 
army,  which  can  be  moved  and  directed  by  the  order  of  a 
single  will  according  to  its  whim  and  pleasure.  But  na 
tural  impossibilities  oppose  and  impede  the  concentration 
in  one  spot  and  even  in  one  region,  of  such  masses  of  men 
and  animals.  For  instance,  it  is  impossible  to  feed  them 
for  a  prolonged  term  of  time,  in  either  a  cultivated  or  in 
a  savage  country. 

The  Navy  is  composed  of  three  fleets  or  squadrons. 
Each  squadron  has  a  three  decker  of  1 00  to  1 20  guns,  and 
eight  smaller  two  deckers,  of  from  70  to  90  guns,  with 
six  frigates,  and  a  very  few  steamers  and  other  smaller 
vessels,  sloops,  schooners,  etc.  Threes  quadrons  form  the 
fleet  of  the  Baltic,  and  two  that  of  the  Black  Sea.  Aside 
from  this,  there  is  a  small  flotilla  in  the  Caspian  Sea,  and 
a  steamer  and  a  few  other  vessels  in  the  lake  of  Ural.  In 
the  Baltic  as  well  as  in  the  Euxine  and  the  Sea  of  AzofF, 
there  are  numerous  gun-boats.  All  the  vessels  are  well 
manned,  but  the  quality  doos  not  correspond  with  the 
quantity.  Russia  not  having  a  commercial  marine,  has 
no  great  number  of  sailors,  or  of  masters  and  mates. 
The  latter  are  nearly  all  foreigners,  and  the  small  number 
of  Russian  commercial  vessels,  notwithstanding  the  exist 
ence  of  a  law  according  to  which  the  master  of  a  Russian 


THE    ARMY    AND    NAVY.  85 

vessel  ought  to  be  a  native  Russian.  But  this  law  is 
eluded,  as  there  is  no  possibility  whatever  of  finding  such 
men.  The  sailors  for  the  navy  are  selected  principally 
from  among  the  people  living  along  the  shores  of  the  Bal 
tic,  the  Euxine  and  the  Azof,  and  from  among  the  boat 
men  on  the  Wolga  and  on  the  Don.  Greeks  and  Arme 
nians  may  be  found  among  the  number.  All  these  put 
together  do  not  furnish,  however,  a  third  part  of  the  re 
quired  number,  and  the  remainder  of  the  crew  is  composed 
of  men  who,  previous  to  being  enlisted,  had  never  been 
on  water,  except  perhaps  in  a  ferry  boat.  A  great  many 
Jewish  conscripts  are  thus  employed.  The  mass  of  the 
crews  are  in  a  season  transformed  into  sailors  by  mere 
drill  and  force.  The  greater  number  cannot  even  swim. 
The  vessels  of  the  fleets  in  the  Baltic  can  scarcely  be 
kept  4  months  on  the  high  sea,  and  in  the  Euxine  but  4  or 
6  weeks  longer.  This  is  the  whole  time  which  can  be  de 
voted  to  practising  naval  exercises  and  manoeuvres.  The 
remainder  of  the  year,  the  crews  are  garrisoned  in  har 
bors,  and  trained  in  military  land  exercise.  Thus,  the 
greater  part  of  the  crews  are  neither  real  nor  skilful  sail 
ors  or  gunners,  but  form  a  scarcely  second-rate  infantry. 

The  officers  are  educated  from  childhood  in  special 
nautical  establishments,  and  most  of  them,  at  least  theo 
retically,  are  as  able  and  as  well-informed  in  all  the  spe 
cialities  of  their  duty  as  those  of  any  other  service  what 
ever.  The  navy  is  the  work  of  the  present  Emperor. 
Alexander  neglected  it  most  completely.  Nicholas,  with 
great  devotion  and  sacrifice  of  money,  has  put  it  on  its 
present  footing,  and  the  naval  service  is  now  regarded 
with  greater  consideration  than  it  was  under  Catharine 
and  Alexander.  An  old  proverbial  distribution  of  capa 
cities  respecting  the  officers  among  the  various  grades  of 
the  service  in  Russia,  assigns — the  dandy  to  the  cavalry 


86  RUSSIA    AS   IT    IS. 

the  learned  man  to  the  artillery,  the  drunkard  to  the 
navy,  and  the  stupid  to  the  infantry.  So  it  was  once,  but 
so  it  is  no  longer,  at  least  with  respect  to  the  infantry  and 
navy.  The  infantry  officers,  though  they  do  not  belong 
to  the  high  er  aristocratic  class,  are  for  the  greater  part 
well  educated  and  tolerably  well  bred.  The  second  son 
of  the  Emperor  is  the  Grand  Admiral,  and  now  the  Min 
ister  or  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  From  childhood  he  has 
been  thoroughly  educated  for  this  purpose.  This  has  given 
a  stimulus  to  the  service.  Educated  and  well-bred  youths 
of  higher  family  connections,  enter  it  continually,  and 
thus  its  ancient  disreputable  character  is  almost  wholly 
changed. 

The  vessels  have  no  uniformity  in  their  construction. 
Some  are  as  heavy  as  old  Dutch  galliots,  some  are  model 
led  on  English  and  American  patterns.  The  material, 
which  is  mostly  oak,  is  bad  ;  not  that  there  is  no  lumber 
in  Russia,  but  the  navy-yards  and  arsenals  are  under  the 
same  principle  of  venality  and  theft  which  pervades  all 
other  branches  of  the  administration.  Thus  the  vessels 
last  only  from  ten  to  fifteen  years.  In  general,  the  Rus 
sian  Navy  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  defensive  wooden  wall, 
which  can  never  be  transformed  into  an  offensive  weapon 
against  Europe,  or  be  made  to  act  single-handed  against 
any  of  the  maritime  powers,  with  the  exception  of  Sweden, 
Turkey,  and  the  like  smaller  ones. 

The  Cossacks  in  time  of  war  are  rarely  used  in  masses, 
in  a  regular  battle-field.  Their  principal  utility  consists 
in  surrounding  the  army  as  an  iron  swarm,  wholly  impen 
etrable  to  the  enemy.  Thus  they  cover  the  movements 
of  the  forces,  prevent  desertions  and  fetch  up  stragglers. 
They  form  the  vanguard  and  the  pastes  perdus,  generally 
extricating  themselves  out  of  difficulties  in  which  all  other 
detachments  of  the  army  or  individuals  would  be  lost. 


>.  THE    ARMY    AND    NAVY.  87 

In  this  manner  they  serve  to  keep  the  enemy  on  the  alert, 
to  alarm  him  continually,  to  hold  him  in  restless  irrita 
tion,  and  to  exhaust  him.  They  are  like  a  swarm  of  in 
sufferable  mosquitoes,  which  it  is  impossible  to  disperse 
or  to  get  rid  of.  They  appear,  alarm,  carry  off  some  pri 
soners,  and  disappear  before  they  can  be  pursued — to  ap 
pear  in  a  short  time  again.  As  no  other  nation  has  such 
i^-egulars,  they  can  never  be  met  on  like  ground.  The 
French,  in  1812-13-14,  complained  of  this  kind  of  war 
fare  more  than  of  anything  else.  The  Cossack  is  in  service 
the  most  faithful  and  the  most  thoroughly  obedient,  shrewd, 
and  cunning  of  soldiers.  Thus  he  is  used  for  missions  of 
trust  or  danger.  Nearly  every  commander  of  a  larger  or 
smaller  detachment  has  Cossacks  about  his  person,  and  at 
his  disposal.  They  are  remarkable  for  great  personal 
courage.  They  will  often  penetrate  single-handed  where 
no  other  soldier  dare  venture,  and  thus  they  are  of  excel 
lent  use  in  gathering  and  procuring  information  about  the 
movements  of  the  enemy.  They  equip  themselves,  receive 
almost  no  pay  during  the  war,  with,  if  possible,  sometimes 
a  ration  for  man  and  horse.  But  generally  they  are 
thrown  on  their  own  resources  and  industry  for  their 
food. 

This  gives  a  general  idea  of  the  Russian  armed  force. 
It  is  strong  undoubtedly  for  the  defensive,  but  it  is  utterly 
impossible  to  throw  these  masses  on  Europe.  Without 
mentioning  the  penury  of  the  treasury,  as  on  a  war  footing, 
the  pay  is  nearly  quadrupled — to  gather  them  together  at 
any  point  within  the  frontier,  would  have  the  same  effect 
as  destruction  by  locusts  for  many  hundred  miles.  The 
same  would  take  place  if  in  case  of  a  war  between  France 
and  Russia — the  army  of  the  Czar  should  enter  Germany 
oven  as  a  friendly  country.  All  would  be  destruction 
and  desolation  with  friend  as  well  as  with  foe.  The  re- 


88  RUSSIA    AS   IT    IS.  * 

gion  thus  traversed  would  be  reminded,  not  of  Napoleon, 
but  of  the  swarms  of  Attila,  the  more  disciplined,  but  for 
the  sake  of  existence  and  self-preservation,  obliged  to  de 
stroy  and  swallow  all  the  resources  within  their  reach.  For 
such  an  impossible  invasion  of  Europe,  the  Russian  masses 
might  be  divided  into  two  parts,  one  entering  Prussia  and 
the  other  Austria.  But  such  invasions  in  the  present 
state  of  the  world  are  impossibilities.  Masses  will  }# 
raised  against  masses,  the  invaded  country  stripped  in  ad 
vance  of  all  resources  to  nourish  the  enemy,  and  whatever 
may  be  the  inborn  gallantry  of  the  Russian  soldier — Na 
poleon  admired  it — no  army  in  the  world  can  be  for  ever 
invincible. 

The  drill  of  these  forces  is,  perhaps,  the  best  existing 
in  Europe.  But  possibly  they  are  overdrilled.  Those 
acquainted  with  the  mysteries  of  the  military  profession, 
pretend  that  in  the  firing  of  the  infantry  as  well  as  of  the 
artillery,  the  principal  object  is  a  quick  discharge,  so  quick 
that  neither  the  soldiers  nor  gunners  are  able  to  take  good 
aim  5  and  thus  in  a  battle,  out  of  the  immense  number  of 
shots,  comparatively  few  are  destructive. 

The  army  is  formed  by  means  of  conscription,  out  of 
the  taxed  classes  of  the  population :  such  as  merchants, 
citizen-burghers,  artisans,  workmen,  free-peasants  and 
serfs.  From  all  these  the  common  soldiery  are  derived, 
with  a  few  exceptions,  of  the  youth  belonging  to  the  privi 
leged  class  of  merchants  and  others,  or  who,  likewise  on 
account  of  a  privilege,  have  received  a  higher  education 
in  some  public  establishment,  such  as  the  Gymnasia  or 
Universities.  A  commoner  can  rise  only  to  the  grade  of 
sergeant.  A  very  extraordinary  distinction  in  time  of 
war  may  push  him  over  the  barrier,  and  make  him  an  offi 
cer  with  a  possibility  of  further  preferment.  In  time  of 
peace  twelve  years  of  service  and  some  capacity  can  raise 


THE    ARMY    AND    NAVY.  89 

the  son  of  a  burgher  to  the  grade  of  an  officer.  The  grades 
of  Lieutenants  and  Captains  confer  personal  nobility,  and 
with  that  of  Major  it  becomes  hereditary. 

As  has  been  already  mentioned,  the  public  service  is 
obligatory  for  the  nobility.  From  it  exclusively  are  de 
rived  the  body  of  officers  in  the  army,  while  the  nobility 
alone  have  access  to  the  civil  service.  The  choice  between 
the  two  is  free  for  any  nobleman,  but  the  military  service 
has  the  precedency.  A  nobleman  never  begins  his  career 
as  a  common  soldier.  Numerous  and  various  military  es 
tablishments  for  every  kind  of  military  education,  to  which 
the  nobles  are  almost  exclusively  admitted,  prepare  the 
youth  from  childhood  practically  as  well  as  theoretically. 
The  education  consists  of  all  the  sciences  connected  with 
the  military  art  and  with  its  highest  branches  5  the  French 
language,  Russian  literature,  history,  national  and  univer 
sal,  geography,  etc.  A  cadet  having  gone  through  all  the 
classes  enters  the  army  with  the  grade  of  second  lieute 
nant.  Those  who  have  been  educated  in  civil  establish 
ments,  gymnasia  and  universities,  entering  as  volunteers, 
are  admitted  as  ensigns  and  cadets.  They  wear  the  uni 
form  of  common  soldiers,  but  with  lace ;  are  exempted, 
as  all  nobles  are,  from  corporeal  punishment,  and  as  soon 
as  they  master  the  rudiments  of  the  service,  they  become 
officers.  Any  nobleman  who  has  once  become  an  officer, 
is  at  liberty  to  abandon  the  service  at  his  will.  For  the 
common  soldier,  the  obligatory  time  of  service  is  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  years.  Once  it  was  for  life. 

The  age  of  a  recruit  is  between  1 8  and  35  years.  The 
mode  of  recruiting  is  as  follows :  An  imperial  ukase  or 
ders,  for  example,  that  three  souls  out  of  every  hundred, 
according  to  the  last  census,  are  to  be  added  to  the  army. 
The  general  official  denomination  of  the  taxed  population, 
in  the  census,  in/  all  administrative,  legal,  and  judicial  con- 


90  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

cerns,  is  that  of  souls.  Thus,  a  landed  property  is  valued 
not  according  to  the  number  of  acres,  but  according  to 
that  of  the  souls  recorded  in  the  census.  Not  the  price 
of  the  land,  but  that  of  the  souls,  forms  the  value.  For 
instance:  A  man  owns  1,100  or  1,000  souls.  This  is  the 
legal  valuation  in  contracts  and  all  documents.  The  ukase 
marks  the  time  when,  through  the  whole  Empire,  or  a  cer 
tain  part  of  it,  the  recruits  are  to  be  levied  and  presented 
in  each  county  to  a  special  official  board.  Each  owner  of 
serfs  selects  from  among  them,  absolutely,  by  his  will,  the 
number  to  be  delivered  by  him,  and  brings  them  before 
the  board.  Free  or  crown  peasants,  and  all  the  other  ru 
ral  communities  of  various  denominations,  as  well  as  those 
of  townships,  boroughs,  and  cities — in  one  word,  all  that 
enjoy  a  special  communal  administration,  have  boards  ad 
hoc  elected  from  among  themselves,  which  boards  make 
the  selection  of  the  required  number  of  recruits.  The  law 
prescribes,  however,  that  a  single  family  shall  not  be  op 
pressed  by  successive  levies.  A  commissioner  of  the  gov 
ernment  supervises  the  whole,  and  complaints  against  his 
decision,  as  well  as  against  the  communal  recruiting  board, 
can  be  brought  before  the  central  board.  A  nobleman, 
who  desires  to  liberate  a  serf  or  any  other  recruit,  can  pre 
sent  a  qualified  substitute,  or  pay  to  the  government  two 
hundred  dollars.  The  substitutes  are  generally  procured 
from  among  soldiers  who  have  served  the  required  time, 
and  have  the  right  to  leave  the  service.  The  central 
board  is  composed  in  each  county  of  three  civil  officers, 
one  military  officer,  and  a  medical  attendant.  An  aide- 
de-camp  of  the  Emperor  is  also  sent  from  St.  Petersburg 
to  each  county,  to  oversee  the  doings  of  the  board,  to  avoid 
oppression  and  venality,  as  the  epoch  of  the  recruiting  is 
the  richest  harvest  for  all  official  rascality.  A  great  op 
pression  is  exercised  in  this  way  on  the  numerous  dissen- 


THE    ARMY    AND    NAVY.  91 

ters  from  the  State  Church,  as  they  are  generally  rich,  and 
opposed  to  the  military  service.  The  Imperial  Adjutant 
likewise  selects  the  ablest  men  for  the  Corps  of  Guards, 
and  other  military  officers  making  a  selection  each  for  their 
special  branch.  A  serf,  once  given  to  the  military  service, 
is  emancipated  for  ever.  When  his  term  is  out,  he  does 
not  return  into  serfdom,  but  has  the  choice  of  position  and 
occupation,  with  the  obligation  to  become  inscribed  in 
some  rural  or  town  community.  His  wife  becomes  eman 
cipated  likewise.  Children  begotten  before  his  entering 
the  military  service  remain  serfs,  those  during  it,  follow 
the  new  condition  of  the  parents.  Thus  the  recruiting  be 
comes  an  agency  of  partial  emancipation.  Owners  of  less 
than  100  souls  combine  together  in  each  district  to  make 
up  the  percentage  ordered  by  the  ukase.  They  also  must 
not  levy  twice  on  the  same  family,  and  there  is  in  each  dis 
trict  a  board  of  noblemen  to  oversee  this  special  operation. 

In  Poland,  where  civil  equality  before  the  law  was  in- 
tro'duced  with  the  French  Code  in  1807,  the  i^cruiting  is 
performed  directly  by  the  Government  from  among  the 
available  population,  without  any  distinction  whatever  of 
any  class  or  social  posHion.  Now,  however,  this  is  to  be 
changed,  as  special  privileges  for  the  nobility  are  to  be  in 
troduced  on  the  same  footing  as  they  exist  in  Russia  pro 
per. 

The  existence  in  Russia  of  various  kinds  of  establish 
ments  for  the  military  education  of  the  noble  youth  has 
already  been  mentioned.  For  the  children  of  soldiers, 
and,  above  all,  for  their  orphans,  establishments  likewise 
exist,  where  they  are  received  from  their  earliest  child 
hood,  and  trained  for  the  military  service.  There  they 
are  taught  to  read  and  write  the  vernacular  language,  with 
Russian  history,  the  general  outlines  of  geography,  and 
also  arithmetic  and  drawing.  Then  they  enter  the  service 


92  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

for  life,  or  nearly  so.     They  are  placed  in  the  topographi 
eal  and  engineer's  corps,  and  at  the  telegraphic  stations, 
which,  in  Russia,  are  exclusively  for  military  use,  and  un 
der  the  immediate  direction  of  the  Emperor. 

The  very  numerous  reserve  is  formed  in  the  following 
manner :  The  time  of  service  for  the  common  soldier  is 
between  15  and  20  years,  but  if  his  conduct  is  correct  and 
he  wishes  it,  he  receives  what  is  called  an  unlimited  fur 
lough  for  the  remaining  term,  and  can  enter  civil  life  in 
any  way  he  chooses — remaining  still  under  military  con 
trol.  They  form  battalions  and  brigades,  having  officers 
and  staff  establishments,  which,  in  case  of  need,  convoke 
and  organize  them  instantly.  They  are  also  brought  to 
gether  almost  every  year,  or  a  great  part  of  them,  from 
four  to  six  weeks  for  drill.  Thus  they  are  maintained  in 
practice,  and  the  reserve  forms  the  best  drilled  portion  of 
the  Russian  forces. 

The  military  colonies  owe  their  existence  to  Count 
AraktcheeJ  who  was  one  of  the  most  curious  phenomena 
in  the  history  of  Russia  in  this  century.  He  was  the  fa 
vorite  of  Paul,  the  companion  of  Alexander,  during  whose 
last  years  he  governed  Russia  most  absolutely,  and  was 
rather  persecuted  by  Nicholas.  Count  Araktcheef  took 
for  his  model  the  military  colonies  established  by  Austria 
between  the  Austro-Slavic  and  Turko-Slavic  frontiers. 
But  the  aim  of  Araktcheff  was  not  the  defence  of  the 
borders.  He  surrounded  St.  Petersburg  with  these  colo 
nies  in  order  thus  to  strengthen  and  render  impregnable 
that  stronghold  of  despotism.  The  crown-peasants  of  the 
government  of  Novgorod,  and  partly  those  of  Pskoff,  were 
transformed  into  soldiers,  and  their  villages  into  barracks 
and  camps.  Out  of  these  colonies,  the  corps  of  Grena 
diers  established  there  were  to  be  maintained  and  princi 
pally  formed.  The  peasants  of  Novgorod  and  Pskoff — 


THE    ARMY    AND    NAVY.  93 

those  two  ancient  cradles  of  Russian  republican  liberty, 
destroyed  only  in  the  XVIth  century  by  the  Czar  Ivan 
the  Terrible — still  preserved  the  sacred  old  tradition,  and 
were  of  an  unyielding  and  ungovernable  spirit.  This  was 
to  be  broken  and  extirpated.  The  military  system  was 
introduced  with  an  iron  hand,  and  an  implacable  rigidity 
akin  to  cruelty.  Unmerciful  corporeal  punishments  were 
daily  occurrences.  In  the  villages  thus  transformed,  the 
military  officers  forming  the  staff  ruled  most  despotically. 
Every  sort  of  labor,  as  well  as  every  movement  of  the 
newly  enslaved,  was  directed  by  an  order  from  above. 
Thus,  an  order  issued  from  the  headquarters  of  a  district, 
would  appoint  for  the  whole  colony — for  example,  a  day 
for  plowing,  another  for  sowing,  another  for  harvest,  and 
all  agricultural  labor  was  similarly  arranged.  The  whole 
rural  population  was  bound  under  penalties  to  move  on  the 
same  day — nay,  at  the  same  hour.  A  peasant  could  not 
go  to  market  nor  sell  an  egg  without  a  permission  from  the 
officers.  ^  At  the  same  time  neither  his  wife  nor  his  daugh 
ter  was  safe  from  their  lust.  Assassination  and  punish 
ments  for  it  happened  very  often,  but  the  system  took  root. 
However,  during  the  Polish  campaign,  in  the  spring  of 
1831,  when  the  colonies  became  liberated  from  the  pres 
sure  of  the  grenadiers  quartered  among  them,  a  terrible 
insurrection  broke  out.  The  greater  part  of  the  officers 
were  killed.  In  several  cases  they  were  sunk  in  the  earth 
to  the  waist,  and  then  mowed  with  the  scythe.  Despair 
and  vengeance  animated  the  wronged,  the  oppressed. 
These  colonial  insurrections,  and  others  which  will  be 
mentioned  hereafter,  give  a  foretaste  of  the  character  of  a 
future  vengeful  uprising  of  the  Russian  serfs  and  peas 
ants. 

Finally,  the  insurrection  was  quenched  in  blood,  by 
Count  Orloff.     Numbers  were  decimated  on  the  spot,  and 


94  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

hundreds  of  families  transported  to  Siberia.  However, 
less  cruel  discipline  was  henceforth  introduced,  and  it 
would  seem  that  the  next  generation  had  become  accus 
tomed  to  the  heavy  yoke.  Things  now  appear  to  go  on 
there  rather  smoothly — but  the  curse  of  the  peasants  is 
poured  out  with  every  breath.  The  tradition  of  better 
times  of  old,  and  of  ancient  liberty,  glimmers  still  at  the 
domestic  hearth.  The  time  will  come,  and  is  perhaps  not 
far  distant,  when  these  colonies,  organized  to  shelter  and 
enforce  despotism,  will  become  a  deadly  weapon  in  the 
hand  of  the  avenger. 

The  maintenance  of  these  colonies,  the  cost  of  their 
transformation,  the  raising  of  costly  buildings  for  bar  racks 
and  headquarters,  as  well  as  the  unavoidable  venality  and 
theft  in  all  administrative  branches,  make  this  establish 
ment  a  burden  to  the  treasury.  The  revenues  of  the  colo 
nies — the  rent  paid  by  the  peasants — are  not  sufficient  to 
cover  all  the  expenses.  The  Emperor  himself  directs  their 
administration.  Once,  in  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  he 
cursed  Araktcheeff  for  their  establishment ;  but  now  he  is 
broken  in  to  it,  and  likes  this  despotic  institution. 

The  colonies  established  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
empire  are  designed  to  be  the  nursery  of  the  great  bulk 
of  the  cavalry.  The  introduction  of  the  military  rule  was 
as  difficult  and  as  bloody  there  as  in  the  north.  Whole 
families  were  destoyed.  In  several  cases  a  father  would 
embark  his  wife  and  children  in  a  boat,  and  reaching  the 
middle  of  the  Dnieper,  would  bore  a  hole  in  it,  preferring 
to  be  drowned  rather  than  submit  to  this  new  kind  of 
slavery.  Still  there  was  no  insurrection  there  as  in  the 
north.  However,  the  genera]  rule  may  now  be  ameliorated, 
the  peasant  of  Little  or  Southern  Russia,  living,  like  his 
brother  in  the  north,  on  the  traditions  of  a  once  free  exist 
ence  under  the  domination  of  the  Cossacks,  still  submits 


THE    ARMY    AND    NAVY.  95 

with  rage  to  this  military  oppression.  In  his  bosom 
hides  the  aspirations  for  liberty  and  revenge,  and  the  bo 
som  of  a  Russian  peasant  has  unfathomed  recesses. 

The  breeding  of  horses  is  a  principal  business  with 
these  colonies.  The  extensive  region  occupied  by  them 
contains  the  best  agricultural  soil  to  be  found  anywhere. 
Wheat  is  the  general  crop,  and  hardly  any  manure  is  re 
quired.  Thus  to  a  certain  extent  they  are  less  onerous  on 
the  treasury  than  the  colonies  in  the  north;  nay,  even 
profitable  in  time  of  war,  when  the  squadrons  leave  their 
home  ;  then,  each  district  is  to  supply  its  special  squad 
ron,  with  men  and  horses,  during  the  whole  duration  of  the 
war.  These  colonies  form  the  reserve  of  cavalry. 

The  maintenance  of  the  army  absorbs  far  more  than 
half  the  gross  revenue  of  the  empire,  notwithstanding 
the  very  small  pay  of  the  officers  as  well  as  common  sol 
diers.  After  various  deductions  made  from  the  pay  of 
the  soldier,  as  for  example :  for  the  common  purse  called 
artel,  for  blacking,  whiting,  etc.,  he  finally  receives  less 
than  six  cents  monthly  in  cash.  His  equipment  consists 
in  three  shirts,  two  pairs  of  shoes,  two  pairs  of  trowsers, 
one  full  dress  uniform,  one  jacket,  and  a  long  military 
overcoat.  The  pay  of  the  officers  through  all  the  grades, 
even  to  the  highest,  is  proportionally  as  mean  as  that  of 
the  soldier.  A  lieutenant  in  the  infantry  has  not  even 
fifteen  dollars  a  month,  and  so  on.  A  general  of  brigade 
has  not  two  thousand  dollars  yearly.  The  penury  of  the 
superior  officers,  that  is,  of  the  generals,  is  relieved  in 
some  way  by  extra  emoluments,  granted  to  them  as  a  spe 
cial  favor,  under  the  denomination  of  rents  for  a  certain 
number  of  years,  or  as  service  money,  etc.  The  pay  of 
the  officers  of  the  guards,  and  generally  of  those  of  the 
cavalry,  is  a  little  superior  to  that  of  the  infantry. 

A  commissariat  is  at  the  head  of  the  general  administra- 


96  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

tion  of  the  army.  It  is  as  great  a  den  of  thieves  as  any 
to  be  found  in  the  world.  The  present  emperor  has  tried 
with  all  his  might,  and  many  times,  to  purify  this  augean 
stable,  but  always  without  effect.  If  one  thief  is  kicked 
out  and  severely  punished,  his  successor  will  follow,  after 
a  while,  the  same  course.  The  evil  is  too  deeply  rooted 
in  the  whole  government.  It  penetrates  all  branches  of 
the  administration,  civil  as  well  as  military.  As  we  have 
mentioned  already  in  a  preceding  chapter,  it  is  inherent 
and  vital  to  the  system.  The  emperor  is  sometimes 
driven  mad  by  new  and  successive  discoveries  of  peculation, 
either  committed  by  his  nearest  favorites,  or  at  least  shel 
tered  by  their  influence.  On  one  such  occasion  he  said  to 
his  son  and  heir ;  Sascha  (a  diminutive  of  Alexander), 
there  are  only  two  honest  men  in  Russia  :  thou  and  1. 
In  this  he  was  wrong.  There  are  some  few  more,  even  in 
the  elevated  circle  by  which  he  is  surrounded.  Thus 
Pashkewich,  Count  Bludoff,  Prince  Souvaroff,  and  a  few 
more.  The  emperor  might  find  honest  men,  elsewhere,  in 
a  small  number.  But  such  men  once  put  forward,  the 
emperor  has  not  the  character  to  back  and  support  them 
firmly  against  the  corrupt  intriguers,  who  unanimously  op 
pose  such  unwelcome  apparitions  on  their  horizon. 

The  organization  of  the  scoundrelism  in  the  commis 
sariat  is  so  extensive,  so  intricate,  and  so  well-combined, 
that  no  sword  of  justice  or  that  of  the  autocrat  can  pene 
trate  or  cut  it  through.  In  this  general  onset,  next  to 
the  commissariat,  come  the  colonels  commanding  and  ad 
ministering  the  respective  regiments.  Their  peculation 
is  generally  christened  with  the  name  of  shrewd  blagoro- 
zumny,  economy.  It  is  applied  to  all  the  necessities 
of  the  poor  soldier.  Thus  the  colonel,  for  example,  re 
ceives  yearly  the  cloth  for  the  equipment,  but  the  soldiers 
often  wear  the  same  uniforms  for  two  years.  The  work- 


THE    ARMY    AND    NAVY.  97 

men  of  the  regiment  are  all  soldiers ;  the  tailors,  shoe 
makers,  saddlers,  smiths,  &c.,  must  work  without  any 
extra  pay  being  allowed  by  the  colonel.  In  time  of  peace 
the  regiment  rarely  contains  a  full  number  of  soldiers, 
notwithstanding  that  the  pay  and  equipment  are  received 
for  full  ranks.  A  colonel  shares  a  part  of  these  "  econo 
mies  "  with  his  generals,  or  at  least  their  staffs.  In  the 
cavalry,  very  naturally,  such  "  economies  "  are  more  con 
siderable.  First  are  those  made  on  the  incomplete  num 
ber  of  men  and  horses ;  then  "  economy  "  made  on  the 
prices  of  the  horses,  and  that  of  the  cost  of  their  mainte 
nance,  for  all  of  which  high  figures  are  paid  by  the  govern 
ment  to  the  colonels,  who  make  in  this  manner  immense 
profits.  Further,  every  year  a  certain  number  of  horses 
is  reported  to  be  renewed,  always  more  than  are  really 
necessary,  and  the  colonel  pockets  the  money  instead  of 
buying  the  required  number.  Generally  the  yearly  income 
economized  in  this  way  by  a  colonel  of  cavalry  will  amount 
to  twenty  thousand,  that  of 'a  colonel  of  infantry  from 
ten  to  twelve  thousand  dollars.  To  give  an  idea  how 
these  various  "  economies  "  are  executed  let  us  suppose 
the  following  :  A  sole  for  the  shoe  of  a  soldier  as  allotted 
by  the  goverment  is  of  eighteen  inches  length.  Before 
it  reaches  its  destination  the  commissariat  and  the  colonels 
clip  it  each  in  their  turn  to  that  extent  that  it  becomes  in 
fact  scarcely  six  inches  long.  The  same  is  done  with  flour 
and  groats,  in  which  consists  the  almost  exclusive  nourish 
ment  of  the  soldier.  If  he  should  have  a  pound,  for  ex 
ample,  of  each  of  them,  he  receives  scarcely  eight  ounces. 
The  soldiers  being  generally  quartered  in  towns  and  vil 
lages,  have  the  right  to  claim  from  their  hosts  a  seasoning 
of  salt  and  grease.  On  the  flour  and  groats  the  captain 
of  the  company,  as  well  as  the  senior  sergeant,  realize  in 
turn  their  profits. 

5 


98  RUSSIA    AS    TT    IS. 

This  general  shrewd  economy  is  to  a  certain  extent 
sanctioned  by  the  government.  Out  of  it  the  musical 
band  of  a  regiment  is  understood  to  be  maintained  by  the 
colonel,  as  well  as  fuel  furnished  for  the  adjutant's  office, 
and  some  other  small  extras.  The  maintenance  of  the 
musical  band  consists"  in  the  pay  of  a  good  director  and 
music  master,  and  in  the  purchase  of  instruments — the 
rest  of  the  band  are  the  soldiers  of  the  regiment,  made  by 
force  to  become  musicians. 

The  same  principle  of  peculation  extends  to  the  navy 
yards,  and  above  all  becomes  very  lucrative  for  the  offi 
cers  superintending  the  construction  of  forts,  and  works. 
Thus  the  citadel  of  Warsaw,  the  forts  of  Greorgewsk,  once 
Modlin.  Ywangorod  in  Poland,  that  of  Dunaburg  in  Lith 
uania,  on  the  Dwina,  a  special  pet  of  the  present  emperor, 
but  which  never  will  be  finished,  like  Penelope's  woof, 
disappearing  as  soon  as  rising  in  the  moving  sands ;  all 
these  constructions,  naval  or  inland,  as  well  as  those  of 
the  lines  of  telegraphs  (not  magnetic  but  according  to  the 
ancient  system,)  have  cost  the  government  tenfold  more 
than  their  worth.  Millions  on  millions  thus  melt  in  the 
hands  of  the  myriads  of  constructors,  engineers,  officers, 
inferior  as  well  as  superior,  directing  and  superintending 
the  like  extensive  works. 

Among  all  these  birds  of  prey  there  appear  from  time 
to  time  exceptions — honest  men — but  they  are  rare  and 
few,  and  in  the  long  run  are  generally  brow-beaten  by  the 
others.  In  justice  to  the  Prince  Pashkewich,  it  ought  to 
be  said,  that  his  whole  career,  from  the  inferior  grades  to 
the  present  prominent  one,  has  been  marked  by  untarnish 
ed  honesty.  He  made  no  fortune  whatever  as  a  colonel. 
Now  he  is  immensely  rich,  by  the  gifts  of  the  sovereign. 
But  he,  the  all-powerful  commander,  is  powerless  to  stop 
peculation  in  the  army  under  his  command.  As  says  the 


THE  ARMY  AND  NAVY.  '99 

old  proverb  :  nee  Hercules  contra  plures.  During  a  war, 
however,  Pashkewich  always  takes  particular  care  of  the 
soldier,  of  his  comforts,  and  that  his  due  shall  reach  him 
as  much  as  possible  in  the  normal  measure.  The  soldier 
knows  it,  adores  Pashkewich,  and  fights  under  his  com 
mand  as  cheerfully  as  courageously ;  and  if,  as  some  ene 
mies  of  the  Prince  maintain,  he  has  often  committed  in 
his  campaigns  strategical  blunders,  which  would  have 
jeoparded  their  issue,  the  undaunted  devotion  of  the  sol 
diers  has  repaired  the  mistakes,  and  re-established  on  his 
side  the  fortune  of  the  battle.  Such,  it  is  said,  was  the 
case  in  the  campaigns  of  Persia  and  Poland,  under  Pash- 
kewich's  command. 

One  perusing  a  military  almanac  of  Russia — if  any 
way  acquainted  with  the  characteristic  sounds  of  the  Rus 
sian  and  German  languages — will  be  astonished  to  find 
the  names  of  officers,  and  above  all  of  generals,  to  be  for 
eign  ones,  and  most  of  them  Germans.  They  have  crept 
into  the  Russian  public  service,  during  a  long  period,  to 
the  greatest  dissatisfaction  of  the  genuine  Russians,  by 
whom  they  are  looked  on  with  hatred,  as  a  national  cala 
mity.  As  this  admixture  of  the  German  element  is  not 
without  influence,  as  well  on  the  internal  struggles  and 
collisions  of  parties  as  on  the  councils  of  the  sovereign 
and  the  external  action  of  Russian  politics ;  and  further, 
as  the  preponderating  influx  of  these  foreigners  still  pours 
in  upon  the  army — a  brief  outline  of  this  subject  will  not 
be  out  of  order  here. 

The  principal  sources  of  this  foreign  element  are  the 
so-called  Baltic  provinces,  composed  of  Curland,  Livonia 
and  Esthonia.  The  land-owners  or  nobility  there,  as  well 
as  the  inhabitants  of  cities,  have  been  Germans  for  the 
last  four  centuries,  descending  from  German  knights  and 
other  settlers  who  conquered  and  civilized  these  regions, 


100  RUSSIA    AS   IT   IS. 

where  the  aboriginal  Curi  and  Letti,  very  likely  belong  to 
the  Finnic  stock.  The  conquerors  belonged  to  the  bro 
therhood  of  the  Knights  of  the  Sword,  called  likewise  the 
Knights  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  and  were  also  Germans. 
In  the  sixteenth  century  these  Knights  turned  Protestant, 
married,  and  divided  the  country  into  individual  property. 
They  were  never  really  independent,  but  vassals  of  Poland, 
Sweden^  and  finally,  since  the  last  century,  they  have  been 
subjects  of  Russia,  maintaining  still  some  distinct  privi 
leges  of  caste,  and  partly  the  German  language,  which 
they  call  the  hearth  of  their  distinct  nationality.  Apart 
from  these  born-subjects  of  the  empire,  there  was,  during 
those  hundred  years,  an  influx  of  adventurers  from  Ger 
many  in  every  form  and  with  every  purpose,  from  men 
seeking  civil  or  military  service,  teachers  and  artisans, 
down  to  servants  and  the  commonest  workmen, — all  of 
them  eager  to  push  their  career  at  the  cost  of  the  natives. 
Numbers  succeeded.  Thus,  for  example,  one  of  the  great 
est  favorites  of  the  Emperor  Nicholas,  Count  Kleinmichel, 
is  the  son  of  a  footman  imported  from  Germany  by  the 
Prince  Soltikoff,  by  whose  protection  the  present  Count 
was  placed  as  a  boy  in  a  public  military  establishment  of 
education.  His  name,  Little  Michel,  bears  an  evidence 
of  his  origin.  All  these  Germans,  born  or  imported,  form 
the  principal  props  of  despotism,  are  the  faithful  agents 
of  its  greatest  saturnalias.  Russia  is  no  fatherland  to 
them.  They  have  no  love  for  her.  The  only  tie  between 
them  and  her  is  the  most  abject  devotion  to  the  master 
whom  they  serve.  No  interest  is"  felt  by  them  in  the 
moral  welfare  of  the  country,  and  less  now  than  ever,  as 
they  hate  more  and  more  the  aborigines,  by  whom,  as 
civilization  and  culture  extend,  these  strangers  are  pushed 
in  the  back-ground,  and  whose  efforts  become  stronger  and 
stronger  to  get  rid  of  their  influence.  Generally  without 


THE  ARMY  AND  NAVY.  101 

any  roots  in  the  national  element,  standing  in  opposition 
and  hostility  to  it,  their  existence  depends  wholly  on  the 
Czars,  and  to  imperial  whims  they  are  devoted  soul  and 
body.  This  is  one  of  the  reasons  for  the  protection  which 
is  bestowed  on  them  by  the  emperors.  Thus,  Germans 
are  spread  every  where ;  at  the  court,  in  diplomacy,  in 
military  service.  The  guards  are  full  of  them.  They 
support  patiently — nay,  cheerfully — the  iron  discipline, 
before  which  the  Russian  nobility  retire  more  and  more. 
They  are  even  the  principal  contrivers  and  executors  of  it. 
Their  cavilling  exactitude  in  all  the  smallest  and  most  an 
noying  details  of  the  service  is  proverbial — in  direct  oppo 
sition  with  the  rather  indolent  manner  in  which  generally 
the  Russian  looks  on  like  small  affairs.  As  the  national 
proverbs  say:  "  Until  there  is  no  thunder  the  Russian 
makes  no  sign  of  the  cross,"  which  signifies  that  he  be 
takes  himself  to  work  thoroughly  only  in  great  emergen 
cies.  All  the  above  mentioned  qualities  of  the  Germans 
contribute  to  secure  to  them  the  favor  of  the  rulers.  But 
this  is  not  all.  German  blood  flows  rather  exclusively  in 
the  imperial  family.  With  the  Empress  Elizabeth,  daugh 
ter  of  Peter  the  Great,  pure  Russian  blood  became  ex 
tinct  on  the  throne.  The  admixture  of  the  German  be 
came  more  and  more  copious  by  each  accession — and  now 
it  can  be  said  that  there  is  scarcely  a  drop  of  that  of  the 
Romanoffs — founders  of  this  dynasty,  in  its  veins.  Peter 
the  Third,  successor  and  nephew  of  Elizabeth,  was  the  son 
of  a  prince  of  Holstein  Gottorp,  and  Catharine  his  wife, 
an  Anhalt.  Their  son,  Paul  the  First,  was  thus  almost 
wholly  German  by  descent.  From  his  marriage  with  a 
princess  from  the  house  of  Wiirtemberg,  issues  the  pre 
sent  sovereign,  united  to  a  Prussian  princess,  as  is  his 
son  and  heir  to  one  from  the  house  of  Hesse  Darmstadt. 
Thus  Germans  have  been  grafted  on  Germans  already  for 


102  RUSSIA   AS   IT    IS. 

four  generations,  and  the  pure  Slavic  element  is  wholly 
destroyed,  absorbed.  If  the  males  by  birth  become  natu 
ralized,  Russified  in  some  way  or  other,  the  women,  con 
tinually  fresh  imported  from  Germany,  prefer  very  natu 
rally  to  be  surrounded  by  countrymen.  Thus  these  find 
access  to  the  court,  keep  up  the  interest  of  their  kindred  ; 
under  their  patronage  Germans  prosper  in  all  the  direc 
tions — and  Russia  cannot  easily  become  cleansed  of  them. 
The  German  explanation  of  their  preponderance  and  utility 
runs  thus :  they  maintain  they  have  civilized  Russia,  and 
have  contributed  pre-eminently,  nay  exclusively  according 
to  their  version,  to  secure  her  greatness  since  the  reign  of 
Peter  the  Great.  But  this  is  a  fallacy.  The  eminent 
individuals  at  that  epoch,  statesmen  or  military,  were  the 
Menchikoffs,  Sheremeteffs,  Shafiroffs,  Golowins,  Koura- 
kins,  Dolgorouckis,  etc.  During  the  brilliant  reign  of 
Catherine  II.  no  German  was  specially  pre-eminent,  and 
one  of  her  crowning  merits  in  the  mind  and  in  the  heart 
of  every  Russian  is,  that  notwithstanding  she  was  a  Ger 
man  by  birth,  none  of  her  countrymen  was  either  her  lover, 
favorite  or  councillor.  In  general,  in  all  the  great  emer 
gencies  of  the  empire,  Russians,  not  Germans,  have  ren 
dered  the  greatest  and  surest  services.  Potemkin,  Rou- 
mantzoff,  Koutousoff,  Pashkewich,  and  above  all  the  in 
vincible  Souvaroff,  who  never  lost  a  single  battle, — far 
outshone  Munich,  Michelson,  Barclay  de  Tolly  and  Dy- 
bitsch.  The  same  is  the  case  in  the  inferior  military  po 
sitions.  Ten  years  ago,  the  disastrous  campaign  in  the 
Caucasus  was  chiefly  the  result  of  German  commanders, 
such  as  Rosen,  Sass,  Grabbe,  etc.  Worontzoff,  Barya- 
tinsky,  and  others  of  Russian  stock,  re-established  affairs 
there  on  a  better  footing.  As  an  illustration  how  of  old 
the  Russo-Germans  were  looked  upon  by  the  Russians, 
the  following  occurrence  may  serve  :  At.  the  battle  of 


Tliii    ARMY    AND    NAVY.  103 

Culm,  in  1813,  where  General  Vandamme  was  taken  pri 
soner,  the  Russian  Guards,  commanded  by  Yermoloff, 
contributed  principally  to  the  victory.  When,  after  the 
affair  \vas  over,  the  King  of  Prussia  and  the  Emperor 
Alexander  came  on  the  field,  Alexander  clasped  his  gene 
ral,  assuring  him  that  in  his  gratitude  he  should  be  most 
happy  to  realize  any  desire  or  demand  of  his  :  "  Make  me 
a  German  in  your  service,  Sire,'1'1  answered  Yermoloff, 
who  also  belongs  to  the  most  eminent  men  in  Russia,  and 
is  still  idolized  by  a  great  part  of  the  nation,  principally 
in  Moscow,  being  of  genuine  Russian  stamp. 

The  characteristic  features  of  the  Russian  army  are 
those  proper  to  the  general  character  of  the  Slavi  and  the 
Russians  in  particular.  An  indomitable  stubborness,  an 
unbroken  toughness,  and  perseverance  and  endurance  al 
most  beyond  human  limits,  are  the  prominent  qualities.  A 
Russian  never  gives  up  any  work  whatever,  when  once  com 
menced.  To  attain  the  proposed  aim  he  will,  without 
hesitation,  overcome  any  difficulties.  The  word  impossible 
is  nearly  unknown  to  the  Russian — workman,  artisan  or 
soldier.  Thus  if  any  new  or  difficult  piece  of  workman 
ship  is  shown  to  an  artisan,  and  the  question  asked  if 
he  will  be  able  to  produce  something  like  it,  his  ready 
answer  will  be,  /  don't  know,  but  I  will  try.  In  the  same 
manner,  the  soldier  on  a  battle-field  never  supposes  that 
any  thing  there  is  impossible.  He  storms  batteries  with 
coolness,  nay,  even  composure,  and  will  stand  quite  un 
moved  the  most  deadly  fire  of  the  enemy.  He  has  not, 
perhaps,  the  foaming  vivacity  of  the  Frenchman  or  of  the 
Pole,  but  a  peculiar,  steady,  unshaken  way  of  his  own. 
If  overpowered  and  broken  by  the  enemy,  he  does  not  fly 
in  disorder  from  the  field,  but  remains  on  it,  even  with 
the  certainty  of  the  loss  of  life.  During  the  retreat  of 
the  Russian  army  in  1812  from  the  Niemen  to  Moscow 


104  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

for  several  hundred  miles,  few,  very  few,  prisoners  were 
made  by  the  French.  At  the  battles  of  Eylau,  Auster- 
litz,  and  Mojaisk,  Napoleon  was  puzzled  and  terrified  by 
the  inflexible  obstinacy,  especially  of  the  Russian  infantry, 
and  proclaimed  it  to  be  among  the  best  in  the  world. 
About  ten  centuries  ago,  Leo  Diakonos,  an  Imperial  his 
toriographer  of  Byzantium,  speaking  of  the  Ros  of  that 
time  (now  Russians),  who  several  times  approached  the 
Eastern  Capital,  says  that  the  Ros  die  but  don't  run  away. 
Others  maintain  this  to  be  the  result  of  a  stern  discipline. 
That  discipline  may  contribute  to  it  in  a  certain  degree 
cannot  be  doubted — but  no  discipline  can  stand  against 
fear. 

Whatever  may  be  the  external  appearances,  the  spirit 
among  the  army  and  principally  among  the  officers,  does 
not  consist  in  an  absolute  worship  of  despotism,  as  is  ra 
ther  generally  believed.  An  uninterrupted  breath  of 
liberal  aspirations  is  active  there.  Most  of  the  officers 
feel  deeply  the  iron  yoke  of  despotism  crushing  them  and 
the  country.  The  number  of  fanatics  and  idolaters  of 
Czarism,  at  any  price,  is  rather  a  minority,  and  the  bulk 
would  willingly  assist  in  getting  rid  of  it.  The  conspiracy 
of  1821,  and  above  all  that  of  1825,  was  initiated  by 
the  army  and  most  extensively  spread  in  it.  In  1838  and 
1839  more  than  two  hundred  officers  of  one  single  corps 
were  engaged  in  a  conspiracy.  It  was  discovered,  and  a 
number  of  the  officers  punished,  but  the  affair  was  hushed 
up.  Who  knows,  whether  the  present  warlike  and  quar 
relsome  attitude  taken  by  the  emperor  in  the  Turkish 
question,  is  not  a  necessity  forced  on  him  by  some  vast 
conspiracy  or  uneasiness  in  the  army,  which  mnst  thus 
be  kept  busy  some  way  or  other,  and  its  energy  directed 
or  expended  in  some  other  channel  ?  A  war  -with  the 
Turks  always  has  a  more  national  character  than  any  other 


THE    ARMY    AND    NAVY.  105 

war  whatever,  and  is  exceedingly  well  calculated  to  kindle 
intensely  the  religious  as  well  as  the  Panslavistic  ardor 
of  the  nation  and  of  the  army,  and  thus  to  curb  and  sub 
due  its  disquiet  spirit.  Such  reason  contributed  eminently 
to  the  war  of  1828. 

Officers  quartered  and  disseminated  in  the  country  are 
in  immediate  and  continual  contact  with  the  nation,  the 
people,  and  can  clearly  see  where  resides  the  source  of  the 
evil.  With  this,  the  reading  of  liberal  books  when  they 
can  get  them,  forms  their  greatest  relish.  They  crave  for 
the  forbidden  fruit,  and  as  far  as  possible,  they  try  to 
satisfy  this  craving.  Further,  they  generally  are  not  at  all 
pleased  with  the  part  forced  on  them,  of  being  the  props 
and  knight-errants  of  despotism  in  other  European  coun 
tries,  of  being  the  extinguishers  of  light  and  the  owls  of 
civilization.  The  feeling  of  a  genuine  Panslavism,  aiming 
at  an  internal  disenthralment  of  the  fatherland,  is  more 
generally  alive  and  spread  among  them,  than  is  agreeable 
to  the  Czar.  This  Panslavism  is  for  beginning  the  work 
at  home,  previous  to  attracting  and  aggregating  the  smaller 
kindred  Slavic  bodies.  The  existence  of  a  liberal  spirit 
among  the  Russian  officers,  was  strikingly  evinced  during 
the  late  Hungarian  war.  Notwithstanding  the  Magyars 
showed  themselves  as  deadly  enemies  of  the  Slavic  ele 
ment  and  independent  nationality,  as  the  Austrians  and 
Germans  could  have  been,  still,  as  their  cause  was  tinted 
with  liberalism,  the  Russian  officers  never  missed  an  occa 
sion  to  show  their  partiality  for  the  cause  against  which 
they  were  fighting,  and  their  most  decided  contempt  for 
the  Austrians.  They  never  met  socially,  never  fraternized 
with  these  allies.  No  Austrian  officer  could  show  his  face 
among  the  Russians,  under  the  penalty  of  being  instantly 
kicked  out  from  any  place  of  public  resort  frequented  by 
them.  This  took  place  continually  during  the  campaign. 


106  RUSSIA   AS   IT   IS. 

and  it  was  even  rumored  that  sometimes,  on  the  battle 
field,  the  Russians,  drawn  up  in  line  away  from  the  Aus- 
trians,  fired,  for  the  sake  of  fun,  whole  volleys  into  them 
instead  of  against  the  Magyars. 

The  Russian  officers  would  willingly  wish  to  become 
the  means,  even  the  promoters,  of  a  political — nay,  even 
of  a  social  internal  emancipation.  But  they  can  neither 
combine  together  into  unity  of  purpose  and  of  action,  nor 
even  communicate  together  in  large  numbers,  without  run 
ning  the  greatest  personal  dangers.  They  are  watched 
over,  surrounded  by  spies,  and  any  attempt  on  their  part 
will  always  be  thwarted  by  the  treachery  of  some  individ 
ual  among  them,  or  wrecked  against  the  impossibility  of 
acting  united.  The  dawn  of  emancipation  will  not  rise 
in  those  quarters,  but  its  rising  may  be  accelerated  and  fa 
cilitated  through  their  interference.  When  that  blessed 
hour  appears  on  the  dial  of  time,  their  duty  will  be — and 
many  already  understand  it  so — not  to  oppose  the  rising 
of  the  peasants,  of  the  people  at  large ;  not  to  quench,  but 
to  extend  the  action  of  the  purifying  fire. 

The  most  conspicuous  mark  of  the  Russian  army  in 
general — that  of  the  officers  as  well  as  of  the  soldiers — is, 
that  they  never  consider  themselves  as  any  excrescence  in 
the  nation,  distinct  or  superior  to  the  bulk  of  the  people. 
They  do  not  look  on  the  quality  of  a  citizen  as  something 
below  them ;  quite  the  contrary.  This  is  in  itself  a  mighty 
pledge  for  the  future.  Officers  and  soldiers  both,  anx 
iously  look  for  the  moment  when  they  can  get  rid  of  the 
thraldom  of  the  red  collar,  and  return  to  private  life,  as 
citizens  or  laborers.  Officers,  if  they  cannot  help  them 
selves  otherwise,  prefer  to  change  the  military  for  the  civil 
service.  They  do  not  share  the  mean  and  contemptible 
notion  of  the  officers  of  other  European  armies,  as,  for  ex- 
uiiiplo,  tlie  Prussians,  French,  etc.,  that  the  red  collar  and 


THE    ARMY    AND    NAVY.  107 

military  coat,  is  something  superior  in  position  and  honor 
to  the  common  existence  of  the  rest  of  the  nation.  We 
mean  by  the  above,  principally  officers  of  pure  Russian 
blood.  They  know  themselves,  as  well  as  tho'se  of  other 
armies,  to  be  the  trustees  of  what  is  called  falsely  the  na 
tional  honor,  but  this  feeling  is  intimately  blended  in  them 
with  the  love  of  country,  of  which,  for  many  of  them,  the 
Czar  is  not  the  personification,  but  only  a  temporary  and 
transient  particle.  When  the  time  will  come,  this  distinc 
tion  between  Czarism  and  the  fatherland  will  become  more 
clear  and  prominent,  and  then  despotism  will  stand  power 
less  and  abandoned  by  the  majority.  Sustained  now  by 
cowardly  conservatives  of  both  hemispheres,  its  much  ad 
mired  discipline  will  then  be  of  no  avail. 

If  the  officers  thus  preserve  the  feeling  of  citizenship, 
much  more  is  it  the  case  with  common  soldiers.  More  mis 
erable,  more  oppressed  by  the  drill,  the  discipline,  and 
crushed  by  it,  living  in  poverty  and  destitution,  their  position 
is  far  more  helpless  than  would  be  that  of  a  serf  under  the 
most  reckless  master.  For  the  soldier  the  long  years  of 
service  are  but  a  daily,  nay,  hourly,  iron  servitude.  Thus 
nothing  separates  -him  from  the  destiny  of  the  peasant,  of 
the  serf.  He  remains  always  the  serf's  brother,  and  both, 
however  in  a  different  way,  bear  on  their  necks  the  heavy 
pressure  of  caste  and  despotism.  And  the  change  is  not 
for  the  better  for  the  soldier.  His  feelings  remain  exclu 
sively  with  the  people.  Thus  even  when  brought  into  for 
eign  countries,  the  Russian  soldier  is  the  least  unreason 
able  in  his  claims,  the  easiest  to  be  satisfied,  and  if  he 
remains  for  even  a  short  time  in  the  same  place,  he  iden 
tifies  himself  instantly  with  the  poorest  classes  among 
whom  he  dwells.  During  the  occupation  of  France  after 
the  battle  of  Waterloo,  the  difference  between  the  good- 
natured  kindness  of  the  Russian  and  the  particularly  arro- 


108  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

gant  manner  of  the  Prussian  or  the  English  soldiers  was 
felt  by  the  French.  The  Russian  was  easily  satisfied  with 
the  commonest  fare  shared  with  the  host,  whose  labors  he 
also  shared  sometimes  in  the  fields,  but  most  generally 
about  the  house.  Often  it  happened,  that  mothers  going 
to  work  in  the  fields,  left  the  house,  the  children,  and 
nurslings  under  the  care  of  the  northern  barbarian,  who 
turned  a  faithful  and  careful*  nurse. 

At  home,  the  soldier  is,  soul  and  body,  the  brother  of 
the  peasant.  In  the  military  service,  the  pressure  of  caste 
weighs  upon  him  more  strongly  than  in  his  former  state. 
The  common  soldier  knows  well  he  does  not  carry  in  his 
knapsack  "  the  marshal's  staff ^  as  the  military  French 
proverb  says  since  the  great  revolution.  Nay,  he  does 
not  even  carry  in  it  the  simple  epaulette  of  a  second  lieu 
tenant.  No  bright  horizon  opens  before  him  in  becoming 
a  soldier,  except  an  exuberant  number  of  corporal  punish 
ments.  As  a  soldier  he  is  hourly  reminded  that  he  be 
longs  to  the  oppressed,  and  the  line  between  them  is  not 
broken.  Having  common  misfortunes,  he  shares  their 
hopes  for  a  better,  if  even  a  distant  future.  Thus  their 
mutual  destiny  is  inseparable. 

From  this  brief  but  true  outline  of  the  characteristics 
of  the  Russian  army,  of  its  officers  as  well  as  its  soldiers, 
it  can  be  conceived  that  in  relation  to  internal  questions, 
the  army  has  a  wholly  different  bearing  from  that  gener 
ally  attributed  to  it  out  of  Russia.  In  the  eventuality  of 
a  rise  of  peasants,  burghers,  or  serfs,  the  army  will  not  so 
easily  become  a  tool  for  depression  as  those  of  some  other 
countries  have  proved  themselves  to  be.  With  the  excep 
tion  of  a  party  of  guards  quartered  in  St.  Petersburg,  and 
mostly  in  barracks,  and  where  the  relations  between  the 
inhabitants  and  the  soldiers  cannot  be  of  the  same  confi 
dential  nature  as  are  those  in  the  country,  there  is  little 


THE    ARMY    AND    NAVY.  109 

doubt  on  what  side  the  soldier  will  be  found  in  case  of  any 
general  insurrection.  Neither  the  Emperor,  his  council 
lors,  nor  the  nobility  at  large  have  any  doubt  about  it. 
And  the  more  distant  comparatively  that  moment  may  be, 
the  more  assured  is  the  co-operation  of  the  soldier  with 
the  people,  for  in  the  same  proportion  the  anti-Czarian 
spirit  of  the  officers  will  increase  or  extend.  Each  suc 
cessive  generation  becomes  more  and  more  saturated  with 
healthy  opinions  and  discerning  love  of  the  fatherland. 
Thus  despotism  as  well  as  the  privileges  of  caste,  become 
more  and  more  undermined.  Even  in  these  latter  years 
there  have  been  cases  where  the  soldiers  refused  to  fire 
against  partially  revolted  serfs.  From  their  consciences 
they  could  not  condemn  them,  and  they  could  not  become 
murderers.  And  further,  every  time  when  the  officers  and 
soldiers  come  in  contact  with  Europe,  they  bring  home 
notions  not  at  all  congenial  to  despotism  and  to  the  social 
relations  existing  there.  They  become  infected  with  poi 
son.  The  officer,  like  the  greater  part  of  the  nobility, 
wishes  for  so-called  constitutional  liberty  as  a  relaxation 
and  shelter  against  despotism ;  the  soldier  wishes  for  the 
more  simple  and  natural  liberty  of  emancipation  from  the 
overburdening  privilege.  Both  of  them  return  dissatis 
fied  with  existing  institutions,  and  crave  for  a  change. 
Thus,  after  the  campaigns  against  Napoleon  in  1813-14- 
15,  all  the  conspiracies  were  spread  by  the  army.  The 
masses  which  served  to  crush  the  Magyars,  traversed  such 
regions  as  Grallicia  and  parts  of  Slavonia,  inhabited  by 
kindred  tribes,  speaking  a  similar  dialect,  and  nearly  con 
nected  by  the  religious  tie.  And  in  1849,  there  they 
found  the  peasants  newly  emancipated  from  a  kind  of  serf 
dom,  the  'robot  or  villainage  of  varied  and  more  or  less  op 
pressive  nature.  All  the  dependence  between  the  noble 
man  or  master  and  the  peasant  was  annihilated.  The 


110 


RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS, 


Russians  saw  there  the  peasants  enjoying  political  liber 
ties — electing  members  of  the  general  diet,  and  participa 
ting  thus  in  the  general  legislation  of  the  country,  courted 
by  the  Government  as  well  as  by  the  nobility.  Can  it  be 
believed  that  such  an  example  could  be  lost,  and  that  the 
Russian  masses  on  their  return  home  were  not  living  bear 
ers  of  a  new  creed,  or  at  least  narrators  of  new  and  joyous 
stories,  at  the  hearths  of  the  oppressed  serfs  ?  The  like 
things  and  events  once  seen  can  no  more  be  eradicated 
from  the  recollection,  nor  their  propagation  stopped  by  any 
earthly  means. 

The  ways  and  means  of  the  genius  of  liberty  and  eman 
cipation  are  numberless  and  various.  The  army,  looked  on 
to-day  as  the  most  powerful  engine  of  Czarism,  will  sooner 
or  later  burst  in  its  hands,  and  turn  against  it  and  against 
the  pillars  by  which  it  is  supported.  Hope  is  not  only  not 
lost  for  Russia,  but  on  the  contrary,  it  is  rising — it  is  on 
fche  increase. 


THE    NOBILITY.  1  1  . 


CHAPTER     Y. 

THE  NOBILITY. 

NEXT  to  the  Czar  in  the  social  scale  stands  the  Nobility 
the  strongest  prop  of  the  absolute  throne,  and  the  imme 
diate  instrument  for  the  execution  of  the  imperial  will. 
They  form  a  more  compact  body  in  Russia  than  in  any 
other  country  whatever.  Nowhere  else  is  the  aristocratic 
class  so  separate  and  distinct  from  the  mass  of  the  nation. 
Endowed  with  numerous  privileges  that  utterly  hedge  it 
oil  from  the  people,  at  the  same  time  that  they  firmly  unite 
its  members  to  each  other  and  to  the  throne,  its  destiny  is 
fatally  blended  with  that  of  Czarism,  to  whose  debasing, 
annihilating,  destructive  influence  it  is  more  than  all  other 
classes  exposed. 

In  the  legal  meaning  of  the  word,  the  Nobility  form 
the  only  class  enjoying  thejuspersonce,  or  personal  right. 
This,  however,  it  enjoys  only  with  reference  to  the  so-call 
ed  lower  classes,  while  with  reference  to  the  Czar,  it  is 
nothing  more  than  a  chattel.  No  privileges  shield  it  from 
the  unlimited,  autocratic  authority  of  the  throne. 

Whatever  laws  are  enacted,  or  even  temporarily  ob 
served,  the  Czar  is  above  them.  He  is  the  living  law, 
and  observes  the  written  one  only  as  far  as  he  condescends 
to  do  so.  In  principle  and  in  reality  he  possesses  more 
absolute,  unbounded,  uncontrolled  power  over  the  whole 


112  RUSSIA    AS    TT    IS. 

nobility,  as  well  as  over  any  separate  individual  noble, 
high  or  low,  rich  or  poor,  titled  or  not,  counting  his  an 
cestry  by  centuries  of  pure  succession,  or  new-made  yes 
terday,  than  the  same  noble  possesses  over  his  own  serf, 
and  even  over  his  real  property.  But  Czarism  sustains 
the  nobility  in  its  position  respecting  the  rest  of  the  nation  ; 
— and  by  oppression,  the  throne  and  the  aristocracy  are 
fatally,  unremittingly  wedded  to  each  other. 

The  whole  body  of  the  nobility  is  either  hereditary  or 
personal.  Hereditary  nobility  has  six  divisions  (rozriad). 
1st.  Those  descending  from  a  line  of  illustrious  ancestors, 
without  possessing  written  documents,  and  those  ennobled 
long  ago  by  the  sovereigns.  2d.  Military  nobility,  or 
those  who  acquired  their  title  in  military  service.  3d. 
Those  deriving  their  rights  from  the  eighth  class  or  tschin 
in  the  public  service.  4th.  Foreign  families  whose  nobiliar 
rights  are  recognized  in  Russia.  5th.  Titles,  as  princes, 
counts  and  barons,  bestowed  by  various  sovereigns,  with 
out  reference  to  the  antiquity  or  recent  origin  of  the  fam 
ily.  6th.  Old  well-born  noble  families  who  can  prove 
their  rights  by  documents. 

If  any  one  be  raised  to  the  eighth  class  of  the  tschin, 
and  continues  to  serve,  he  acquires  the  rights  belonging  to 
hereditary  nobility  ;  if  he  gets  this  tschin,  however,  when 
leaving  the  service,  he  then  enjoys  the  rights  of  personal 
nobility,  which  is  not  transmittible  to  his  children.  With 
equal  classes,  the  holders  of  a  military  tschin  take  prece 
dence  of  civilian.* 

Foreigners  whose  rights  of  nobility  are  admitted,  can 
not,  however,  rank  among  the  Russian  nobility  without 
having  rendered  some  signal  service  to  the  state,  or  reach 
ed  the  eighth  tschin  or  class. 

*  See  Appendix  B 


THE    NOBILITY.  1  13 

If  any  one  belonging  to  the  class  paying  capitation, 
that  is  to  the  bourgeoisie  or  peasantry — through  military 
or  civil  service  reaches  the  class  bestowing  hereditary  no 
bility,  all  his  children  born  since  this  epoch  inherit  the 
same  rights — those  born  previously  do  not  enjoy  this  pri 
vilege. 

An  hereditary  nobleman  can  marry  a  member  of  any 
other  class,  even  a  serf,  the  children  always  inheriting  the 
privileges  of  caste. 

A  woman  of  noble  descent  marrying  below  her  caste, 
preserves  after  marriage  the  privileges  derived  from 
birth,  but  does  not  bestow  them  on  her  husband,  nor  trans 
mit  them  to  her  children.  The  same  is  the  case  with 
widows. 

Roman  Catholic  clergy  enjoy  the  privileges  of  personal 
nobility,  as  well  as  some  members  of  scientific  and  archi 
tectural  boards. 

The  children  of  a  personal  noble  (by  personal  noble 
we  mean  something  similar  to  the  English  rank  of  Knight, 
which,  as  is  well  known,  is  not  transmittible  to  children), 
enjoy  the  rights  belonging  to  the  class  of  respectable  citi 
zens  (see  next  Chapter). 

*  Noblemen  can  erect  every  kind  of  manufactory  on  their 
estates  without  being  obliged  to  enter  a  guild ;  they  can 
carry  on  trade  freely,  and  export  the  produce  of  their 
own  manufactories.  A  nobleman  establishing  a  manufac 
tory  in  a  city,  and  who  devotes  himself  there  to  general 
commerce,  is  obliged  to  become  a  member  of  one  of  the 
commercial  guilds,  without,  however,  losing  the  privilege 
of  caste. 

The  mines,  the  produce  of  fisheries,  and  water-power 
on  the  estates  of  a  noble,  form  his  absolute  property,  with 
out  any  royalty  attaching  to  them. 

Noblemen  can  erect  boroughs  with  periodical  fairs  and 
market  days. 


114 


RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 


Those  from  the  lower  classes  who  have  reached  by 
service  the  position  of  hereditary  nobles,  cannot  buy  and 
acquire  these  landed  estates,  where  they  or  their  ancestry 
have  been  serfs  until  the  third  generation.  Personal  no 
bles  cannot  possess  landed  estates  with  serfs. 

The  privileges  of  nobility  once  lost  by  a  judgment  or 
pre-emption,  cannot  be  re-acquired,  except  through  mili 
tary  service. 

The  following  are  the  principal  rights  and  privileges 
of  the  nobility,  as  a  body,  without  distinction  of  rank : 
They  alone  can  possess  real  estate  and  own  serfs.  They 
alone  can  hold  offices,  civil  and  military,  which  gives  to 
them  the  general  administration  and  government  of  the 
empire.  Only  the  children  of  noblemen,  male  or  female, 
can  be  admitted  to  the  public  civil  or  military  establish 
ments  of  education  at  the  cost  of  the  state.  They  alone 
can  enter  the  universities.  The  noble  is  exempted  from 
corporal  punishment,  and  from  every  other  infamous  sen 
tence.  If  any  civil  or  military  court  finds  a  nobleman 
guilty  of  a  crime,  and  condemns  him  penally,  previous  to 
the  execution  of  the  judgment,  whatever  it  may  be — whe 
ther  death  or  condemnation  to  Siberia,  for  labor  in  the 
mines — the  noble  is  disnobled,  and  expelled  from  the 
caste,  after  which  the  sentence  is  executed.  In  justice  to 
the  new  criminal  code,  published  a  few  years  since,  it  must 
be  observed,  that  it  treats  with  more  relative  severity  the 
impeached  and  criminally  condemned  nobleman  than  it 
does  the  member  of  any  other  class ;  taking  the  ground 
that,  as  the  noble  enjoys  exclusive  privileges,  he  has  thus 
within  his  reach  all  the  means  of  education,  and  his  crimi 
nal  conduct  ought  to  be  more  rigidly  retribute<j[  by  the 
law.  Finally,  no  direct  or  personal  taxation  can  be  im 
posed  upon  the  nobility  or  their  estates. 

The  public  service  being  preserved  exclusively  for  the 


THE    NOBILITY.  115 

nobles,  it  is  a  matter  of  peremptory  obligation  that  they 
should  enter  it.  Thus,  if  the  members  of  a  family  shall 
for  three  generations  fail  to  fulfil  this  duty,  the  third  gen 
eration  falls  back  into  the  ranks  of  merely  personal  nobi 
lity,  which  is  not  hereditary.  Persons  of  this  class  are 
called  nowodwortsy,  new  manor-men,  in  whom  the  aristo 
cratic  privilege  becomes  extinct  with  all  its  boons,  as,  for 
instance,  the  right  to  own  serfs,  etc.  Abstractly,  and  as 
a  matter  of  principle,  the  Czar  is  supposed  not  to  possess 
any  power  to  hinder  in  any  way  the  liberty  of  a  nobleman, 
in  respect  to  his  movements  in  or  out  of  the  Empire.  But, 
as  nearly  every  nobleman  is,  in  some  way  or  other,  engaged 
in  some  branch  .of  the  public  service,  they  come  to  depend 
on  superiors  and  chiefs  ;  in  a  word,  on  the  ruling  power ; 
and  thus  they  are  obliged  to  ask  for  permission  to  go,  and 
for  leave  of  absence.  Aside  from  this,  the  Czar,  who  is 
the  living  law,  may  at  his  pleasure  prohibit  any  individual 
not  only  from  travelling  in  foreign  countries,  but  even  from 
circulating  in  the  interior  of  the  empire,  if  he  supposes 
that  the  individual  is  guilty  of  any  political  contamination. 
The  greater  part  of  the  internal  administration  of  pro 
vinces  or  governments,  as  they  are  called,  and  of  districts, 
cities,  townships,  and  communalities,  as  well  as  that  of 
civil  and  criminal  justice  therein,  has  for  its  basis  the 
communal  principle  of  election.  The  boards  are  nearly 
all  elected  by  the  respective  social  classes,  though  most  of 
them  are  presided  over  by  a  member  named  by  the  gen 
eral  government.  The  nobility  as  a  body  has  the  greater 
share  in  the  boards.  In  each  province  the  nobility  forms 
a  distinct,  compact,  social,  and  official  corporation,  to  ad 
minister  its  special  affairs  and  to  watch  over  its  general 
interests.  They  elect  a  head,  called  the  county  marshal, 
and  a  board  of  councillors.  As  every  county  pays  sepa 
rate  taxes  for  its  own  internal  administration,  of  which 


I 

116  RUSSIA'   AS    IT    IS. 

however,  the  expenditure  is  in  the  hands  of  the  governor, 
and  of  his  board  named  by  the  crown,  he  is  obliged  to 
give  yearly  accounts  thereof  to  the  marshal  and  the  board 
of  nobility.  The  marshal  has  the  right  to  send  his  com 
plaints  against  the  governor  to  the  minister  of  the  interior, 
or  even  to  the  Czar  himself.  Each  district  in  a  county 
elects  likewise  a  district  marshal,  a  justice  of  the  peace, 
for  judicial  and  not  for  police  duties,  an  administrative 
and  police  chief  for  the  district,  corresponding  somewhat 
with  the  position  of  a  sous-prefet  in  France,  and  his  ad 
juncts,  a  council  to  administer  the  estates  of  minors,  as 
well  as  the  real  estates  of  those  who  are  deprived  of  them 
judicially,  or  for  tyranny  and  misdemeanor  toward  their 
serfs.  The  persecution  of  the  like  cases  belongs  to  the 
district  and  county  crown  attorneys.  In  the  general  elec 
tions  the  nobility  of  each  county  select  presidents  and 
members  for  the  civil  and  criminal  tribunals — three  for 
each,  and  a  tutor  of  the  high  school  or  gymnasium,  with 
whom  the  director  named  by  the  crown  ought  to  consult 
in  all  administrative  and  disciplinary  matters,  as  nearly  all 
the  pupils  are  nobles — and  finally,  the  like  tutors  for  the 
district  schools. 

The  nobility  elect  the  judiciary  for  each  county,  com 
posed  of  the  presidents,  and  three  members  or  judges  for 
each  civil  or  criminal  tribunal ;  the  district  judges,  and 
their  assessors  or  assistants,  a  conciliatory  judge,  called 
the  judge  of  conscience,  and  a  board  to  keep  the  heraldic 
records  of  the  county. 

The  meetings  are  triennial,  being  summoned  by  the 
governor.  Such  ordinary  meetings  make  the  necessary 
elections  of  the  various  boards  enumerated  above.  An 
extraordinary  meeting  of  the  nobility  can  be  called  to 
gether  by  the  marshal  of  the  county,  with  the  permission 
of  the  governor,  who  in  his  turn  obtains  that  of  the  minis- 


THE    NOBILITY.  117 

ter  of  the  interior,  and  through  him  that  of  the  sovereign, 
At  any  such  meeting,  ordinary  or  extraordinary,  only  the 
wants  of  the  respective  county  can  form  the  subject  of 
deliberation — and  about  them  only  petitions  can  be  ad 
dressed  to  the  sovereign. 

Hereditary  nobility  only  takes  a  part  in  such  meetings. 
A  woman  possessing  in  her  own  right  landed  property, 
can  bestow  her  elective  rights  on  her  husband,  son,  or 
son-in-law.  To  be  elected,  a  nobleman  must  possess  one 
hundred  serfs  with  the  requisite  quantity  of  soil  for  each, 
or  three  thousand  desiatin,  or  about  eight  thousand  acres 
of  land.  He  must  be  twenty-one  years  of  age. 

The  elective  principle  for  the  nobility  was  intro 
duced  and  regulated  by  Catharine  II.,  who  bestowed  on 
Russia  many  of  the  blessings  of  a  wise  government. 
Catharine  even  intended  to  inaugurate  a  kind  of  deliber 
ative  assemblies  for  the  nobility,  where  matters  concerning 
the  internal  interests  of  the  empire  would  have  been  dis 
cussed,  and  the  results  of  deliberation  submitted  to  the 
judgment  of  the  sovereign.  She  called  together  notables 
from  the  nobility  to  Moscow,  but  having  soon  discovered 
that  their  deliberations  did  not  throw  any  light  on  the  sub 
jects  submitted  to  them,  she  dismissed  them  with  great 
official  encomium. 

The  nobility  holds,  or  at  least  shares,  if  not  the  power, 
at  least  its  administration.  But  in  this  way  also,  as  de 
pending  on  the  Czar  and  his  special  tools,  the  nobility  is 
the  most  exposed  to  the  deadly  malaria  of  despotism.  Not 
withstanding  its  privileges  and  standing,  it  enjoys  no  real 
independence,  less  even  in  a  certain  degree  than  the  class 
of  burghers. 

Holding  as  they  do  all  other  administrative  offices, — 
which  are  not  elective, — at  the  pleasure  of  the  Czar,  and 
depending  on  them,  not  only  for  social  position,  but  often 


118  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

for  maintenance,  individual  nobles  are  often  compelled  to 
bear  patiently,  and  with  mute  submission,  the  most  gall 
ing  wrongs  and  insults.  An  outraged  no^le,  if  his  family 
has  not  any  very  prominent  position  at  court,  is  sure  not 
to  find  any  redress,  and  to  be  abandoned  by  his  kindred, 
as  nobody  will  dare  to  oppose  the  wrath  of  a  powerful 
minister  or  favorite ;  every  one  being  in  turn  dependent 
on  the  good  will  of  the  clique  surrounding  the  sovereign. 
The  burghers,  who  expect  nothing  from  the  direct  action 
of  the  government,  and  are  not  linked  with  it  as  office 
holders,  have  more  esprit  de  corps  in  such  emergencies, 
and  exercise  it  more  boldly.  The  public  service  contri 
butes  generally  to  the  financial  ruin,  or  at  least  the 
embarrassment  of  the  nobility,  who  labor  under  the  gen 
eral  disease  of  their  caste  throughout  the  world — that  of 
lavishness  and  of  dissipation. 

Thus,  the  nobility  is  in  a  false,  abnormal  position,  pri 
vileged  to  be  sure,  but  without  enjoying  an  independence, 
and  without  dignity  or  freedom.  And  add  to  this  that  its 
numbers  increase  rather  rapidly  by  the  mechanism  inhe 
rent  in  the  organization  of  the  government.  Thus  in 
creases  the  number  of  social  drones,  and  worse  yet,  that 
of  bloodsuckers,  and  men  dissatisfied  with  their  position. 
The  whole  service  civil,  as  well  as  military,  is  divided  as 
it  was  said  in  a  preceding  chapter,  into  fourteen  classes 
of  ranks.  The  five  lower  classes  (Nos.  14  to  10,  inclusive) 
are  open  to  those  who  are  nobles,  or  the  sons  of  personal 
nobles,  of  higher  burghers,  physicians,  professors,  or 
priests.  The  principal  privileges  of  these  classes  consist 
in  being  exempt  from  corporeal  punishment  during  the 
period  of  service.  The  next  superior,  or  ninth  class,  gives 
the  rights  of  personal  nobility — as  for  example,  that  of 
owning  serfs,  without,  however,  transmitting  them  to  suc 
cessors  ;  and  of  the  admission  of  children  into  public  es 


THE    NOBILITY.  1  19 

tablishments.  The  eighth  class  bestows  hereditary  no 
bility,  with  all  its  general  privileges.  Thus,  the  daily 
extension  of  all  the  branches  of  public  service,  backed  by 
favoritism  and  the  protection  of  powerful  and  influential 
men,  fills  the  empire  with  swarms  of  nobles — espousing 
all  the  stupid  prejudices  of  the  class  into  which  they  come, 
and  shunning  no  immorality  and  venality  that  can  procure 
means  to  maintain  the  newly  acquired  position ;  and  mas 
terly  teachers  enough  they  find  among  the  older  occupants 
of  the  privilege. 

This  union  between  despotism  and  the  nobility  is  far 
from  being  a  happy  one.  The  links  uniting  them  are  not 
of  roses — and  mutual  distrust,  suspicion,  and  sometimes 
hatred  prevail.  Debased  by  their  dependence,  the  nobility 
feel  their  contemptible  position — but  still  they  are  obliged 
to  live  and  lean  on  the  power  of  the  autocracy,  and  to 
soothe  it  by  flattery  and  submission.  All  the  oppressive 
measures  toward  themselves  or  the  other  classes  pass 
through  the  aristocracy  before  reaching  the  others.  On  it 
the  heel  of  despotism  more  violently  presses,  and  if  there 
be  in  its  ranks  some  slight  breathing  of  better  aspirations, 
Czarism  strangles  it  at  once.  At  present  the  autocrat  re 
stricts  even  the  means  of  education.  The  ukase  allowing 
only  three  hundred  youths  to  each  university  yearly,  we 
have  already  mentioned.  Thus  is  blocked  from  the  no 
bles  all  possibility  of  receiving  a  half-way  independent 
education.  The  object  of  this  ukase  is  to  force  the  youth 
into  the  army  and  the  military  drill,  as  less  dangerous. 
From  among  the  military,  the  civil  officials  are  afterwards 
to  be  appointed  ;  by  this  means  despotism  expects  to  have 
more  mute  and  docile  tools,  though  the  country  should  be 
administered  by  incapable  persons.  But  in  the  long  run 
the  Czar  will  find  himself  baffled  in  these  expectations. 
The  iron  rod  of  military  discipline  wounds  more  deeply — 


120  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

and  evokes  silent  thoughts,  preparing,  however  slowly,  a 
final  reaction. 

The  nobility  at  large  preserve  much  of  true  national 
feeling.  They  wish  for  an  amelioration,  and  very  often 
look  for  the  possibility  of  relaxation  in  the  present  hard 
and  crushing  system  of  government.  But  their  position 
is  exceptional  and  abnormal,  notwithstanding  these  better 
feelings,  and  renders  them  wholly  unable  to  remedy  the 
evil,  and  to  be  the  harbinger  of  a  better  future.  Thus  in 
their  ranks  the  sparks  of  the  so-called  revolutionary  fire  is 
very  often  kindled,  but  these  attempts  remain  fruitless. 
The  country's  redemption  will  not  come  from  that  quarter. 
The  nobility  for  centuries  have  contributed  mightily  to  en 
slave  the  people  at  large,  to  depress  the  burghers,  to  fet 
ter  the  peasant  to  the  soil,  and  to  rivet  his  bondage  as  a 
serf.  Thus  the  aristocracy  shares  with  Czarism  the  ma 
lediction  of  history.  Vainly  will  it  attempt  to  free  itself 
from  the  deadly  embrace  of  the  Autocrat.  He  drags  and 
keeps  it  attached  to  his  destiny  with  the  bonds  of  unchange 
able  doom.  Both  are  gnawed  by  the  same  cancer — both 
devoured  by  the  same  rust  of  decay.  Both  will  finally  be 
called  to  give  a  bloody  account  of  their  doings.  The  no 
bility  at  large  already  have  a  gloomy  presentiment  of  their 
destiny,  and  dread  both  the  Czar  and  the  people,  of  whose 
real  confidence  they  are  deprived  for  ever. 

Whatever  the  so-called  liberal  or  constitutional  reforms 
wished  or  attempted  by  the  nobility  may  be,  if  ever  car 
ried  through — which  we  judge  to  be  a  perfect  impossi 
bility — that  class  will  never  wholly  resign  its  various  pri 
vileges.  It  will  never  put  itself  on  an  equal  footing  with 
the  remainder  of  the  nation.  It  will  grant  voluntarily 
this  or  that  concession,  of  more  or  less  value,  but  that  is 
not  enough. 

The  so -called  liberal  nobles  are  no  rarity  in  Russia. 


THE   NOBILITY.  121 

There  is  a  certain  party,  especially  among  the  higher  no 
bility  or  aristocracy,  endowed  with  pure  oligarchical  ap- 
jpetites.  This  party,  notwithstanding  an  external  varnish 
of  liberalism,  is  as  hostile  and  as  dangerous  to  the  real  lib 
erties  of  the  nation,  as  is  Czarism  itself.  Its  aim  is  to 
raise  a  certain  number  of  families  to  a  dignity  equivalent 
to  that  of  the  English  peers,  and  to  make  them  indepen 
dent  of  the  despotic  will  of  the  Czar,  but  to  maintain  the 
existing  oppression  towards  the  rest  of  the  nobility  and  the 
people.  The  great  fomenters  of  this  scheme  are  the  fami 
lies  of  the  Strogonoffs  and  some  others,  as  Kiseleff,  Mens- 
chikoff,  etc.  The  Strogonoffs  are  the  descendants  of 
wealthy  merchants  of  Moscow,  who,  in  the  16th  century, 
made  a  compact  with  Ermak,  a  celebrated  chief  of  rob 
bers,  and,  through  him,  conquered  Siberia,  but  have  never 
since  that  time  rendered  any  other  prominent  civil  or  mili 
tary  services  to  their  fatherland. 

Uneasiness,  dissatisfaction  with  the  existing  state  of 
things,  and  fear  of  the  future,  whatever  it  may  be,  are  the 
predominant  feelings  in  the  breasts  of  the  greater  number 
of  the  nobility.  In  common  with  that  class  in  other  coun 
tries,  they  are  overwhelmed  with  debt  and  unable  to  keep 
pace  with  the  material  progress  around  them,  which  re 
quires  order,  intellect,  capital,  and  hands.  Commercial 
and  industrial  enterprise  is  of  course  open  and  accessible 
to  the  nobles.  "Many  of  them  farm  from  the  crown  the 
monopoly  of  the  sale  of  liquors.  But  with  rare  and  very 
few  individual  exceptions,  trade,  industry,  or  manufactures, 
form  rather  a  costly  pastime  when  indulged  in  by  a  noble 
man,  aside  from  his  other  occupations  and  pursuits.  The 
spirit  of  caste  is  likewise  an  impediment.  Finally,  the 
nobleman  cannot  cope  with  men  for  whom  commercial  and 
industrial  enterprise  is  the  sole  and  exclusive  aim  of  life, 
and  who,  excluded  by  the  nobility  from  other  more  easy 
6 


122  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS, 

social  positions,  and  prevented  by  the  laws  even  from  free 
ly  enjoying  and  making  in  their  turn  an  ad  libitum  use  of 
their  wealth,  look  on  a  commercial  noble  as  on  one  who 
encroaches  on  their  ground,  and  accordingly  never  sin 
cerely  fraternize  with  him.  Serfdom  is  likewise  a  moral 
and  a  material  burden  for  the  nobility,  and  all  the  more 
so  since  the  majority  of  them  possess  small  or  reduced  for 
tunes.  It  is  an  element  financially  ruinous,  and  socially 
menaces  explosion.  In  truth,  numerous  nobles  revolve  in 
their  minds  the  idea  of  giving  up  their  estates  to  the  crown 
for  the  payment  of  a  perpetual  rent.  Thus  distant  clouds 
gather  dark  and  heavy  from  all  directions  around  this  • 
caste. 

The  position  of  the  nobility  is  to  be  sincerely  pitied. 
They  wish  and  aspire  for  something  better,  and  still  are 
fatally  condemned  to  the  worst.  They  are  continually 
placed  between  two  fires.  That  of  Czarism  it  receives  in 
full,  while  it  is  loathed  by  the  other  classes.  Among  the 
noblemen  many  are  sincerely  ashamed  of  being  the  scourges 
of  despotism,  and  the  extinguishers  of  light,  the  propaga 
tors  of  darkness,  and  the  principal  tools  for  the  destruc 
tion  of  liberty  at  home  and  abroad. 

Half  willingly  and  half  by  fatal  compulsion,  the  nobil 
ity  shares  in  the  saturnalia  of  despotism,  still  receiving 
the  master's  first  lashes  on  its  humbled  head.  Before  his 
tory,  and  the  genius  of  humanity  and  of  Russia,  it  stands 
impeached  for  having  with  its  own  hands  worked  out  the 
moral  and  intellectual  debasement  of  the  nation.  The 
burghers,  the  peasantry,  the  serfs  see  and  feel  in  it  their 
immediate  oppressor.  They  see,  feel,  and  experience  that 
malversation,  venality,  corruption,  and  all  the  most  abject 
impurities  which  still  stamp  the  government  and  the  ad 
ministration,  are  the  exclusive  doing  of  the  nobility,  she 
being  the  exclusive  holder  of  all  higher  and  lower  offices. 


THE    NOBILITY.  123 

The  real  genuine  people  find  their  caste  every  where  in  the 
way.  It  surrounds  them  as  by  an  insurmountable  wall, 
compressing  pitilessly  their  practical  every-day  life,  as 
well  as  every  better,  loftier  impulse  of  the  mind.  The  no 
bility  have  even  drawn  a  line  of  separation  in  the  social 
intercourse  between  themselves  and  the  clergy,  who  to  a 
certain  degree  form  a  separate  class,  but  who  on  account 
of  their  calling,  have  some  approach  to  education,  not  only 
clerical,  but  partly  of  a  more  general  kind. 

As  we  have  already  observed,  the  caste  of  nobles  has 
almost  exclusive  access  to  the  existing  means  and  resour 
ces  of  education ;  the  admission  to  them  of  other  classes 
is  exceptional,  and,  on  the  whole,  rather  accidental.  Thus 
the  nobles  have  absorbed  for  their  own  benefit  all  the 
means  and  rays  of  the  civilization  existing  in  Russia,  and 
they  alone  enjoy  the  possibility  and  the  right  to  give  ut 
terance  to  an  intellectual  life.  They  have  possession  of 
the  arena  of  culture,  and  they  are  presumed  to  represent 
it — to  hold  and  to  spread  the  light  from  the  sacred  beacon. 
But  the  glimmer  in  which  they  shine  is  a  cold  and  blind 
ing  mist,  or  a  deceiving  mirage.  It  is  superficial,  swim 
ming  on  the  surface,  like  a  will-o'-the-wisp.  What  the 
real,  genuine  manifestation  of  Russian  civilization  may  or 
will  be,  can  only  be  appreciated  and  fairly  judged  when 
the  whole  people  shall  be  admitted  to  the  sanctuary,  when 
the  now  latent  intellectual  powers  shall  blaze  in  their 
genuine  warmth  and  brilliancy — when  the  concrete  Rus 
sian  mind  will  conquer  activity,  life,  and  boundless  de 
velopment. 

Suspended  between  good  and  evil,  between  light  and 
darkness,  between  life  and  death,  irritated  and  exaspera 
ted  by  the  feeling  of  their  social  annihilation,  by  that  of 
moral  nothingness,  and  by  the  certainty  of  material  and 
financial  exhaustion,  the  greater  part  of  the  nobility  are 


124  RUSSIA   AS    IT    IS. 

torn  inwardly  by  violent  and  desperate,  but  impotent  rage. 
They  cannot  unite  with  the  people  against  the  common 
oppressor,  as  the  people  distrust  and  even  despise  them, 
and  would  neither  answer  nor  follow  any  appeal  they  might 
put  forth.  Full  of  hatred  for  Czarism  and  the  Czar,  they 
still  uphold  him  with  one  hand,  while  digging  with  the 
other  their  common  grave.  If  the  social  existence  of  the 
class  is  not  to  expire  contemptibly,  it  must  finally  light 
the  purifying  flame.  Thus  it  will  open  up  the  future,  but, 
at  the  same  time,  will  itself  be  consumed  by  the  sacred 
fire,  and  perish  socially  in  the  work  of  initiation. 


THE    CLERGY.  125 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE  CLEEGY. 

• 

IN  treating  of  the  Eastern  Church  or  Greek  Church,  rre 
shall  discuss  no  theological,  dogmatical,  or  liturgical  ques 
tions.  This  church,  at  the  present  day,  maybe  said  to  be 
eminently  Slavic,  since  the  Slavi  constitute  by  far  the 
greatest  and  most  powerful  portion — two  thirds,  at  least 
— of  the  orthodox  or  true  believers.  Thus,  the  Slavic 
dialect  is  heard  more  than  any  other  in  the  sacred  services 
of  the  Eastern  Church ;  and  among  the  Slavic  race,  and 
principally  on  Russian  soil,  has  the  independence  of  this 
church,  from  all  foreign,  hostile,  or  heathen  influence,  been 
secured  and  maintained. 

We  now  proceed  to  state  the  social  position  of  the 
church  and  the  clergy,  their  relation  to  the  state  and  to 
the  people,  and  the  influence  they  have  exerted  and  still 
exert  on  the  latter. 

Christianity  was  introduced  into  Russia  from  Byzan 
tium,  and  principally  by  the  action  of  the  Byzantine  Em 
perors  and  their  "daughters,  who,  by  marrying  the  savage 
Ros  (as  the  Russians  were  called  by  the  Byzantine  his 
torians),  tried'to  soften  their  dangerous  neighbors.  Gen 
erally,  it  was  through  the  women  that  Christianity  was 
introduced,  and  spread  among  the  northern  races.  Being 
a  daughter  of  Byzantium,  the  Russian  Church  very  natu- 


126  RUSSIA    AS  IT   IS. 

rally  held  under  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  and  was 
at  that  early  period  wholly  independent  of  any  action  or 
interference  of  the  civil  power  of  Russia  or  of  the  power 
of  the  Grand  Dukes.  After  the  fall  of  Constantinople 
into  Turkish  hands,  one  of  the  patriarchs  fled  to  Moscow, 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  thus  a  Patriarchate  was  es 
tablished  there.  From  this  epoch,  the  Russian  Church, 
sheltered  by  the  national  independence,  has  looked  on 
herself  as  being  at  the  head  of  the  Eastern  religious  family. 
The  patriarchs  of  Moscow  long  contrived  to  preserve  the 
independence  of  the  church  from  the  encroachments  of  the 
civil  power,  not,  however,  without  serious  collisions  with 
some  of  the  Czars,  and  especially  with  Ivan  the  Terrible 
(Groznoi),  who  even  imprisoned  and  nearly  put  to  death 
a  patriarch. 

After  the  death  of  a  patriarch,  Peter  the  Great  en 
tirely  abolished  the  whole  institution,  allowing  no  new 
election  to  be  made  ;  and  thus  assumed  a  part  of  the  power 
for  himself  and  his  successors.  He  instituted  a  board, 
under  the  name  of  the  Sacred  Synod,  formed  out  of  me 
tropolitans,  archbishops,  bishops,  and  some  lower  mem 
bers  of  the  hierarchy,  and  appointed  this  Synod  to  attend 
to  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  every  kind.  The  decisions  of 
this  body,  in  spiritual  matters,  are  understood  to  be  wholly 
independent  of  the  influence  of  the  Czars.  As  to  the  ad 
ministration,  the  power  of  the  sovereign  is  supreme.  In 
the  Synod,  it  is  represented  By  the  procurer,  or  imperial 
attorney,  directing  the  deliberations  and  the  administra 
tive  labors  of  the  Synod.  The  Czars  nominate  the  hier 
archy,  and  the  Synod  gives  them  consecration.  Peter  the 
Great,  and  finally  Catharine,  took  away  fr6*m  the  clergy 
and  the  monasteries  all  their  property,  which  was  very 
large.  The  whole  hierarchy  is  now  supported  by  the  gov 
ernment. 


THE    CLERGY.  2 

There  are  ivvo  classes  of  the  clergy — the  white,  or  seen- 
lar  (so  called  from  the  color  of  the  dress  they  wear),  and 
the  black,  or  monks.  Of  the  last  the  Eastern  Church 
has  only  one  order,  instituted  by  St.  Basil  the  Great,  one 
of  the  primitive  fathers  of  the  (Ecumenic  Church.  From 
among  the  white  clergy,  who  must  be  married,  the  curates 
are  taken,  as  are  the  other  ranks  of  the  hierarchy  below 
the  rank  of  bishop.  All  bishops  must  be  unmarried  and 
monks.  The  members  of  the  white  clergy  must  be  inar- 
rjpd,  or  at  least  engaged,  before  receiving  the  final  conse 
cration.  But  they  cannot  marry  twice,  and  on  becoming 
widowers  are  obliged  to  enter  a  monastery,  or,  as  the 
phrase  is  :  postryjon  w  monachy,  be  shorn  into  a  monk — 
as  the  white  clergy  wear  their  hair  and  beard  long.  Thus 
a  priest  takes  most  devoted  care  of  his  wife  to  the  utmost 
of  his  means  and  power.  It  is  therefore  proverbial  among 
the  people,  to  be  as  happy  as  a  popadia,  or  the  wife  of  a 
pope,  which  is  the  title  of  a  priest,  and  is  derived  from 
the  word  papa. 

The  white  or  married  clergy  form,  in  reality,  a  distinct 
caste ;  the  male  children  following,  generally,  the  condi 
tion  of  the  father.  This  is,  however,  the  result  of  usage 
rather  than  of  law.  Nay,  they  even  intermarry  among 
themselves.  Thus  the  clergy  form  a  class  somewhere  be 
tween  the  nobility,  the  bourgeoisie  and  the  people — less 
than  the  first,  and  superior  to  the  two  others.  As  a  class, 
the  clergy  cannot  enter  the  nobility  on  an  equal  footing ; 
and  that  very  few  marriages  between  them  take  place,  is, 
perhaps,  principally  on  account  of  the  poverty  of  the  priests. 
For  the  children  of  the  clergy  to  enter  the  body  and  share 
the  occupations  of  the  burghers  would  be  looked  on  as  a 
loss  of  caste.  Few,  therefore,  of  this 'class  enter  the  pub 
lic  service,  civil  or  military,  and  on  the  other  hand,  no 


128  RUSSIA    AS   IT    IS. 

nobleman  ever  takes  "  orders,"  with  the  exception  of  now 
and  then  an  old  military  veteran  retiring  to  monastic  life. 

The  code  of  law,  the  Sivod  Zakonoff^  gives  the  follow- 
lowing  definitions  of  the  position  of  the  clergy  :  The  mon 
asteries  and  convents  are  divided  into  three  classes,  and 
the  dignity  and  precedency  of  their  respective  Abbots  and 
Abbesses  accords  with  this4  arrangement.  The  higher 
clerical  hierarchy,  formed  from  the  monks,  consists  of  the 
Metropolitan,  the  Archbishop,  the  Bishop,  the  Igumen, 
or  Abbe,  etc.  The  titles  of  the  white  hierarchy  are  : 
Protopresbyter,  Superdeans,  Deans,  Presbyters,  Proto- 
deacons,  Deacons,  Subdeacons  and  common  Priest. 

Any  one  who  take^  monastic  orders  must  receive  the 
permission  of  the  Synod.  The  men  must  be  thirty  years 
of  age — women,  forty.  If  the  candidates  belong  to  the 
taxed  class,  that  is,  if  they  are  burghers,  peasants  or  serfs, 
they  must  produce  a  permission  from  their  special  superior. 

Married  persons,  or  those  not  divorced,  cannot  take 
orders  unless  both  parties  do  it,  and  when  there  are  no 
children  under  age. 

One  can  leave  the  order  by  permission  of  the  superiors, 
and  return  to  the  social  class  to  which  he  belonged  before. 
For  seven  years,  however,  he  cannot  live  in  the  country 
where  he  was  a  monk,  nor  in  either  of  the  two  capitals. 

Monks  are  not  exempted  from  military  service,  from 
the  capitation  tax,  and  froin  corporal  punishment.  They 
cannot  own  villages  of  serfs,  or  carry  on  trade. 

The  order  of  the  white  clergy  can  be  entered  by  any 
one,  with  the  exception  of  serfs.  The  wives  and  children 
of  the  clergy  enjoy  the  privileges  of  this  class,  though  they 
may  personally  belong  to  a  lower  order.  Thus  the  chil 
dren  of  priests^  with  few  exceptions,  are  not  obliged  to 
look  for  another  social  position.  They  are  exempt  frow 
military  service. 


THE    CLERGY.  129 

A  priest  can  abandon  his  vocation  and  return  to  world 
ly  life  by  the  permission  of  the  Synod.  (A  Roman  Ca 
tholic  priest  never  can.)  Such  a  one  returns  to  the  social 
class  to  which  he  previously  belonged,  but  he  cannot  enter 
the  public  service  until  ten  years  after  his  renunciation. 

In  all  religious  and  disciplinary  affairs  the  clergy  are 
subject  to  and  judged  by  their  own  hierarchy.  In  civil 
matters  the  case  comes  before  the  civil  court,  assisted  by 
a  deputy  clergyman.  Deacons  and  common  priests  are  not 
liable  to  corporal  punishment.  Clergymen  cannot  own 
estates  or  serfs  except  when  they  are  born  nobles  or  are 
decorated  with  a  distinction  bestowing  nobility.  They  can 
own  houses  in  cities,  and  farms  in  villages,  but  they  can 
not  carry  on  trade.  If  the  children  of  clergymen  enter 
the  military  or  civil  service,  they  enjoy  the  privileges  con 
ferred  on  the  children  of  personal  nobles. 

The  Roman  Catholic  and  the  Graeco- Armenian  clergy 
enjoy  the  same  legal  privileges  as  the  orthodox.  Each 
possesses  its  own  special  hierarchy,  whose  decisions  must 
be  confirmed  by  the  sovereign.  The  Protestant  clergy, 
which  consists  principally  of  Lutherans  and  Calvinists, 
have  a  hierarchy  according  to  their  own  special  organiza 
tion.  Those  wishing  to  be  ordained  are  obliged  to  go 
through  a  whole  course  of  Protestant  theological  studies, 
in  one  of  the  Russian  Universities,  and  then  to  pass  an 
examination  before  their  own  superiors.  No  one  can.  be 
a  preacher  under  twenty-five  years  of  age.  Exceptions 
are  allowed  by  the  special  permission  of  the  Minister  of 
the  Interior.  It  is  under  the  control  of  this  administra 
tive  department  that  all  the  denominations,  not  orthodox, 
or  Graeco-Russian  are  placed.  Individuals  subject  to  the 
capitation  tax  must  be  furnished  with  an  exemption  from 
it  before  their  ordination.  Foreigners  must  have  the  per 
mission  of  the  minister  to  preach,  or  to  be  settled  over 
parishes. 


130  RUSSIA   AS    IT    IS. 

The  affairs  of  the  Lutheran  Church  are  administered 
by  consistories,  all  of  whose  members  take  the  oath  of 
fidelity  to  the  sovereign.  Though  a  Protestant  clergyman 
be  not  noble  born,  yet  as  long  as  he  remains  in  this  voca 
tion,  he  enjoys  the  rights  of  personal  nobility,  and  thus  is 
exempted  from  the  capitation  tax.  Houses  in  cities, 
owned  and  inhabited  by  them,  are  free  from  military  quar 
tering  and  from  taxes.  The  Protestant  clergy  have  the 
right  to  organize  a  fund  for  their  widows  and  orphans, 
with  the  permission  of  the  respective  consistories  and  of 
the  minister. 

They  cannot  carry  on  trade  or  be  artisans  or  mechanics. 
They  cannot  be  attorneys  in  lawsuits,  not  their  own,  or 
those  of  their  wives  and  children ;  neither  can  they  be 
guardians  of  orphans  without  a  special  permission  of  the 
consistory.  In  matters  concerning  their  clerical  condition, 
they  are  subject  to  the  discipline  of  their  hierarchy ;  in  all 
others  they  are  under  the  action  of  the  general  laws.  When 
in  a  criminal  affair  an  arrest  of  a  clergyman  is  to  be  made, 
the  consistory  is  to  be  instantly  made  acquainted  with  it. 
They  cannot  be  subjected  to  corporal  punishment.  The 
widows  and  children  of  the  Protestant  clergy  enjoy  all  the 
privileges  of  personal  nobles,  with  the  exception  of  those 
born  after  the  father  has  renounced  the  order.  Widows  and 
children  enjoy  for  one  year  the  income  of  the  departed 
clergyman.  One  abandoning  the  order,  and  not  being 
either  a  hereditary  or  personal  noble,  is  obliged  to  select 
a  new  mode  of  life,  and  become  inscribed  in  a  coporation 
according  to  his  choice.  A  clergyman  can  be  dismissed 
and  degraded  by  a  criminal  verdict,  as  well  as  for  the 
transgression  of  his  duties,  and  by  the  judgment  of  his 
special  hierarchy.  A  clergyman,  condemned  to  death,  or 
to  an  infamous  punishment :  as  for  example  to  the  ptetnia, 
(a  kind  of  whip  which  now  generally  replaces  the  knout). 


THE    CLERGY.  131 

or  to  the  mines,  or  to  be  branded — even  if  afterward  he 
should  be  pardoned,  cannot  recover  his  clerical  standing, 
or  the  privileges  connected  with  it. 

The  clergy  of  the  G-reek  or  Russian  Church  are  edu 
cated  in  ecclesiastical  schools,  kept  by  monks,  in  monas 
teries,  to  which  schools  children  of  all  other  classes  have 
likewise  access.  The  regular  theological  instruction  is 
given  there  in  separate  classes.  Children  of  priests  can 
frequent  other  public  schools — the  Gymnasia  and  Univer 
sities,  and  generally,  next  to  the  class  of  the  nobles,  they 
have  the  easiest  access  to  the  means  of  instruction  and 
education. 

The  number  of  dioceses  of  the  orthodox  church  amounts 
to  nearly  seventy,  and  that  is  also  about  the  number  of 
Archbishops,  Bishops,  and  Suffragans. 

The  erthodox  clergy,  both  the  white  and  the  monks, 
exert  a  powerful^  influence  on  the  minds  of  the  people,  and 
principally  on  those  of  the  burghers  and  peasants.  This 
influence  has  its  principal  source  in  history  and  in  the  na 
tionality  of  the  church  and  of  the  clergy.  The  church 
has  more  than  once  raised  the  spirit  of  the  people  in  epochs 
of  national  distress,  and  has  preserved  and  nursed,  the 
feeling  of  nationality  during  the  centuries  of  foreign  su 
premacy.  During  the  Tartar  domination  of  nearly  three 
centuries,  the  church  rendered  to  the  nation  not  only  the 
spiritual  service  of  comfort  and  consolation,  but  to  a  great 
degree  preserved  the  national  tongue  from  the  impure  ad 
mixture  of  the  foreign  dialect.  Whatever  may  have  been, 
at  that  time,  the  mental  activity  of  Russia,  it  was  limited, 
and  exclusively  concentrated  in  the  church.  In  these 
labors  the  Russian  church,  quite  differently  from  that  of  the 
whole  of  remaining  Europe,  did  not  use  a  foreign  tongue, 
but  that  of  the  people.  Thus,  it  not  only  preserved  the 
national  language  from  deterioration,  but  the  church  alone 


132  RUSSIA    AS   IT   IS. 

contributed  to  give  to  it  a  higher  development  and  life 
All  the  writings  of  the  fathers  of  the  primitive  church 
were,  at  an  early  epoch,  translated  into  the  Slavo-Russian, 
and  thus  its  inborn  elasticity  was  developed.  From  the 
time  of  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  the  churchmen 
and  monks  wrote  their  records  and  chronicled  events,  in 
general,  in  the  vernacular.  Thus  Russia,  alone,  has  an 
cient  chronicles  in  her  own  tongue,  a  fact  of  which  no 
other  nation  can  boast.  To-day  even  the  purest,  the  most 
vigorous  language  is  that  used  by  the  church,  and  no  one 
can  know  well  its  powers  and  flexibility  who  has  not 
studied  it  at  the  above  mentioned  sources. 

In  the  great  struggle  to  overthrow  the  Tartar  supre 
macy,  the  church  powerfully  inflamed  the  national  feel 
ings,  amalgamating  them  with  those  of  the  religion.  In 
the  wars  with  the  Poles,  the  clergy,  the  monks,  often  con 
tributed  to  stir  up  the  people  and  to  repulse  the  invaders, 
as  in  the  siege  of  Wielkie  Luki,  Smolensk,  etc.  During 
the  epoch  of  the  pretenders  in  the  beginning  of  the  seven 
teenth  century,  when  Moscow  and  nearly  the  whole  of 
Russia,  was  conquered  and  overrun  by  the  Poles,  and 
when  thus,  for  some  time,  they m  ruled  the  country,  the 
clergy  stimulated  the  people  to  oppose  the  menacing  for 
eign  domination,  as  aiming  to  introduce  Roman  Catholi 
cism  ;  and  when  Minin,  the  butcher,  and  the  Prince  Pojar- 
ski,  raised  the  cry  of  independence  in  Moscow,  and  in 
Nijnoi  Novgorod,  the  clergy  were  foremost  to  echo  it,  and 
again  contributed  mightily  to  the  reconquering  of  the  na 
tional  independence.*  In  these  events,  and  in  the  exclu- 

*  The  thankful  people  offered  the  crown  to  the  liberator  Po- 
jarski.  He  refused  it,  and  pointed  to  the  Romanoffs  as  the  nearest 
kindred  of  the  extinct  lineage  of  the  Czars.  The  chief  of  the  Ro 
manoff  family  was  forced  by  Gudenoff,  the  usurper,  to  enter  a 
monastery — but  was  carried  off  with  the  Czar  Schujski,  as  prisoner 


THE    CLERGY.  133 

sive  nationality  of  the  church  are  the  roots  of  its  influence 
over  the  people. 

The  nobility  at  large,  though  externally  respectful  to 
ward  the  clergy,  yet  keep  them  at  a  distance,  and  there 
exists  no  intimate  intercourse  between  the  two  classes, 
The  contrary  is  the  case  with  the  bourgeoisie  and  the  pea 
sants.  At  their  hearth  the  priest,  the  monk,  is  treated 
with  cordiality,  and  meets  with  respect.  The  religious  as 
well  as  the  national  tie  unites  them  strongly.  In  the 
clergymen,  the  people  at  large  have  entire  confidence — but 
not  so  in  the  nobility  or  in  the  officials.  With  the  clergy 
the  people  live  a  common  life — with  the  clergy  they  share 
sorrows  and  sufferings,  and  bear  a  common  oppression. 

Like  every  thing  else  in  Russia,  the  church  is  oppressed 
by  despotic  power,  and  the  clergy  by  the  social  strata 
overlaying  it.  Peter  the  Great  annulled  the  independence 
of  the  clergy ;  and  since  this  first  stroke,  the  all-absorbing 
action  of  despotism  has  pressed  down  and  crushed  the 
church  more  completely.  It  must  be  said,  however,  that 
the  influence  of  the  sovereign  exclusively  concerns  tern- 
poral  matters,  and,  therefore,  the  Emperor  is  in  nowise 
the  spiritual  chief  of  the  church,  nor  can  he  in  any  way 
decide  or  interfere  with  spiritual,  dogmatic,  or  strictly  ec 
clesiastical  disciplinary  affairs.  In  this  respect,  a  sovereign 
of  England  is  more  a  chief  of  his  church,  than  a  Russian 
autocrat  of  his.  For  instance,  the  Grorham  case,  lately 
decided  in  England  by  the  sovereign  or  her  council,  in 
Russia,  could  never  come  officially  before  the  Emperor. 
With  his  power,  notwithstanding  its  intensity,  he  can  not 
touch  spiritual  or  theological  questions.  But  in  all  other 
matters,  the  clergy  and  the  hierarchy  are  wholly  reduced 
to  nothingness,  and  are  totally  subject  to  the  will  of  the 

to  Poland.  His  son  was  elected  Czar,  and  began  the  reigning  dy 
nasty,  whose  first  founder  was  thus  a  monk. 


134  RUSSIA    AS   IT    IS. 

Czar.  The  common  disciplinary  decisions  of  the  Synod 
must  be  submitted  to  the  soveriegn. 

To  avoid  what  the  jealousy  of  despotism  calls  a  scan 
dal,  or  rather  to  cut  off  a  contaminating  influence  which 
might  extend  over  other  subjects,  no  free  discussion  of  any 
matter  is  really  allowed  to  the  church.  The  bishops  must 
be  very  circumspect  and  cautious  in  their  spiritual  and 
administrative  action.  They,  too,  are  subject  to  the  in 
vestigation  of  the  secret  police,  or  spies,  and  may  thus 
easily  be  ruined.  Salaried  by  the  government,  they  are 
kept  in  absolute  subjection,  and  those  who  are  too  spirited, 
receive,  either  directly,  secretly,  or  officially,  through  the 
synod,  friendly  or  emphatic  admonitions.  Any  discussion, 
about  the  moral  power  and  influence  of  the  church,  is 
looked  on  as  too  likely  and  too  easily  susceptible  to  go  be 
yond  bounds ;  thus  it  is  suspected,  or  rather  prohibited, 
in  writing  as  well  as  speech.  Even  the  pulpit,  that  scanty 
resource  of  the  church,  is  jealously  watched  over.  Thus, 
neither  the  supreme  metropolitan,  nor  the  humblest  par 
son,  can  move  freely  in  his  own  element.  The  monasteries 
are  under  the  same  pressure.  The  choice  or  selection  of 
the  abbot,  (IgumenJ)  must  be  made  by  them,  agreeably  to 
the  whims  of  the  government.  They  are  under  control, 
as  is  every  other  corporation,  and  are  sometimes  treated 
very  roughly  and  with  great  severity.  With  all  this 
the  sovereign,  and  the  whole  official  swarm,  show  all  the 
external  signs  of  deference  to  the  Pope  or  Baituschka, 
as  a  priest  is  commonly  called. 

We  have  said  above  that  none,  or  scarcely  any  social 
intercourse  exists  between  the  nobility  and  the  clergy. 
The  priests  select  their  wives  from  among  their  own  class, 
or  from  among  the  lower  burghers  or  peasantry,  who  are 
not  admitted  into  the  society  of  even  the  lowest  nobility. 
Thus  the  clergy,  being  both  in  the  city  and  in  the  country 


THE    CLERGY.  135 

excluded  from  the  palace  and  the  chateau,  very  naturally 
fall  back  upon  the  other  classes,  by  whom  they^are  treated 
with  respectful  deference. 

The  clergy  are  far  from  being  satisfied  with  forming 
such  a  limited  caste.  For  their  children  they  wish,  very 
naturally,  for  a  more  enlarged  horizon,  from  which  they  are 
crowded  out,  as  much  by  the  institutions  of  the  country, 
as  by  its  conventional  usage.  They  are,  very  naturally, 
disaffected  and  dissatisfied,  and  this  dissatisfaction  with 
the  existing  state  of  things,  grows  stronger  and  stronger 
in  proportion  as  their  oppression  and  the  aspiration  for 
emancipation  increase. 

The  only  full  liberty,  protection  and  firm  support  en 
joyed  by  the  clergy  under  the  government,  is  in  the  per 
secution  of  heretics  and  dissenters  from  the  orthodox 
church.  These  various  sectarians  have  a  strong  vitality, 
notwithstanding  the  pressure  exercised  upon  them.  They 
are  equally  obnoxious  to  the  church  and  to  the  crown ; 
they  form  various  sects,  composed  of  burghers  and  pea 
sants,  with  very  few  nobles.  Some  of  them  do  not  believe 
in  any  regular  clergy  at  all,  and  these  are  looked  on  as  the 
worst ;  others  have  no  higher  hierarchy  beyond  their  par 
sons  ;  these  are  called  storowiertsy,  old  believers,  others 
are  iconoclasts,  and  still  others  have  various  names,  as  du- 
hobortsy,  inspired,  malakany,  skoptsy,  etc.  They  are 
most  generally  quiet  and  active  people,  but  very  fanatical. 
Temperate  and  abstemious — most  of  them  use  no  spirit 
uous  liquors  whatever — they  are  thus  in  good  circumstan 
ces.  By  the  law  they  are  excluded  from  holding  elective 
offices  in  the  municipal  or  rural  communes,  where  they 
live  mixed  with  the  orthodox  They  really  must  be  looked 
upon  as  forming  the  only  true  Independents  in  Russia, 
since  to  their  religious  ideas  they  join  those  of  political  in 
dependence.  Their  political  notions  are  republican,  and 


136  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

the  Czar,  as  well  as  the  nobility,  is  odious  to  them ;  they 
are  principally  averse  to  the  military  service.  Dispersed 
and  scattered  through  the  empire,  they  find  the  people 
more  tolerant  towards  them  than  the  government  They 
thus  maintain  a  continual  social  fermentation,  whose  acti 
vity  is  increasing,  and  may  acquire  a  high  importance  in 
future  emergencies. 

From  all  this  it  results,  that  neither  religion  in  itself, 
nor  the  state-church  and  clergy,  form  such  strongholds 
and  props  of  absolutism,  and  of  the  division  into  castes  in 
Russia,  as  is  perhaps  the  case  in  other  countries  of  Eu 
rope.  On  the  contrary,  the  clergy,  and  above  all  the 
monks,  are  rather  a  menacing  cloud  on  the  autocratic  ho 
rizon,  and  the  autocracy  is  aware  of  this  fact.  Not  that 
it  can  be  expected  that  the  initiative  of  general  emancipa 
tion  will  ever  issue  from  the  order  of  the  priesthood ;  but 
whenever  it  shall  come,  the  clergy  will  rather  foster  than 
oppose  it,  provided  that  it  bear,  what  is  beyond  a  doubt, 
a  national  character. 


THE   BOURGEOISIF.  137 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE  BOURGEOISIE. 

THERE  is  a  current  and  rather  wide-spread  fallacy,  propa 
gated  by  writers  belonging  to  various  nations,  about  the 
absence  in  the  Russian  social  system  of  a  bourgeoisie  or 
tiers-etat  This  misrepresentation  is  based  principally  on 
the  erroneous  notion,  that  whoever  is  not  a  nobleman,  is, 
ipse-facto,  a  serf  or  slave.  As  to.  such  persons  being 
slaves,  we  have  shown  in  a  former  chapter  upon  the  nobility, 
that  notwithstanding  their  superior  social  position,  and  the 
privileges  and  distinctions  enjoyed  by  them,  and  by  which 
they  are  surrounded,  in  their  real  relations  with  the  au 
tocracy,  the  nobility  finally  share  the  common  lot,  and  join 
with  the  other  classes  in  dragging  along  the  iron  yoke.  The 
Czar  is,  in  principle,  an  absolute  unaccountable  master,  as 
well  over  the  person  of  a  nobleman,  as  over  that  of  a 
burgher,  a  peasant,  or  a  serf.  His  power  is  far  more  ab 
solute  over  the  nobility,  than  that  of  the  nobility  over 
their  peasantry.  The  bourgeoisie  in  Russia  are  also  sub 
ject  to  this  power  in  the  same  way  as  the  nobility,  .who 
precede  this  class  in  the  social  scale.  But  the  class  of 
citizens  is  circumscribed  by  the  nature  of  this  descending 
gradation,  and  thus  crowded  into  a  closer  and  narrower 
arena,  and  is  more  heavily  shackled,  and  to  a  greater  de- 


138  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

gree  oppressed  and  deprived  of  individuality  and  liberty; 
in  body  as  well  as  in  mind.  In  a  social  order,  founded 
exclusively  on  the  complication  and  combination  of  what 
is  called  privilege,  the  pressure  becomes  more  and  more 
galling  as  we  descend  to  the  lower  grades. 

Thus  to  a  certain  degree  the  position  of  the  bourgeoisie 
in  Russia,  as  will  be  shown  hereafter,  differs  somewhat 
from  that  of  the  corresponding  class  in  other  countries. 
But  still  it  is  of  the  same  kind,  though  in  a  more  de 
pressed  state ;  sharing  partly  the  common  deficiences,  but 
endowed  with  other  different  characteristics  of  its  own, 
which  render  it  superior  to  the  narrow  and  contracted 
spirit  so  deeply  rooted  in  the  European  bourgeoisie 
generally. 

In  Russia,  therefore,  the  bourgeoisie  forms  a  middle 
class,  just  as  it  does  elsewhere.  It  stands  there  between 
the  nobility  and  the  peasantry.  In  this  central  position, 
through  its  well  defined,  well  circumscribed  corporation, 
called  legally  the  merchant  class,  the  bourgeoisie  touches 
slightly  the  heights  of  the  reserved  privileges,  proper  to 
the  nobility ;  while  on  the  other  side  it  mingles  and  almost 
disappears  in  the  genuine  people.  Thus,  if  by  some  re 
stricted  privileges  it  is  a  little  raised  above  the  latter's 
fortune ;  on  the  whole,  it  supports,  in  common  with  those 
beneath  it,  the  social  and  moral  pressure  weighing  down 
upon  both  from  the  crushing  superposition  of  a  higher  caste, 
and  from  the  all-stifling  power  of  despotism. 

In  the  official  language  the  whole  class  is  called  citi 
zen  burghers.  They  live  in  cities,  towns,  and  boroughs, 
all  under  similar  organizations  ;  devoted  exclusively  to 
trade,  manufactures,  and  other  working  professions.  There 
they  are  governed  by  institutions  of  a  communal  nature  as 
respects  their  fundamental  organism  and  structure. 

The  legal  or  civil  position  of  the  bourgeoisie  as  a  whole 


THE    BOURGEOISIE.  139 

as  well  as  in  the  parts  into  which  it  is  legally  subdivided, 
is  as  follows,  according  to  the  definitions  of  the  law  by 
which  the  bourgeoisie  is  pieced  out  into  many  and  various 
classifications  and  subdivisions  : 

According,  then,  to  the  law,  swod  zakonow,  the  citi 
zen  burghers  of  any  city,  town,  or  borough,  are  :  1.  Those 
born  in  it,  or  those  who  have  settled  there,  established  in 
any  business,  as  tradesmen,  artisans,  etc.  2.  Persons  pos 
sessing  houses,  lots,  or  any  description  of  real  estate  in  the 
locality.  3.  Those  registered  in  one  of  the  three  guilds, 
or  any  other  local  corporation.  4.  All  those  who  in  the 
city  where  they  live,  have  fulfilled  duties  of  personal  ser 
vice,  who  are  recorded  in  the  general  register,  and  have 
accordingly  paid  the  communal  taxes. 

This  body  of  citizen  burghers  is  divided  into  various 
classifications,  as  follows,  thus :  1 .  The  class  of  the  cor 
poration  legally  called  merchants,  kupetscheskoe  soslowie. 
All  of  them  must  be  inscribed"  in  one  of  the  three  guilds. 
2.  Respectable  citizens.  3.  Citizen  burghers  not  inscribed 
in  any  of  the  guilds ;  artisans,  mechanics,  belonging  to 
special  handicraft  corporations.  4.  Freemen,  such  as  dis 
charged  soldiers,  emancipated  serfs,  and  all  others  of  free 
condition  not  belonging  to  any  special  corporation,  but  re 
gistered  in  the  general  one  of  the  city  inhabited  by  them. 
5.  Workmen,  and  all  other  inhabitants  owning  houses  in 
cities,  but  not  registered  in  the  general,  or  in  any  of  the 
special  corporations,  can,  if  they  choose,  be  called  citizen 
burghers,  without,  however,  losing  their  privileges,  if 
from  the  order  of  the  nobility,  or  acquiring  those  of 
burghers,  if  still  belonging  to  rural  communes. 

The  three  guilds  into  which  the  merchant  class  is  di 
vided,  are  formed  according  to  the  amount  of  capital  em 
ployed  and  declared  by  those  wishing  to  get  an  inscription, 
on  which  an  interest  of  about  six  per  cent,  is  to  be  paid 


140  RUSSIA    AS   IT    IS. 

yearly  into  the  treasury.  The  sum  necessary  for  an  in 
scription  in  the  first  guild  is  about  twenty  thousand  dol 
lars,  for  the  third  or  lowest,  about  six  thousand. 

Aside  from  this  order  of  merchants,  all  other  burghers 
form  a  general  body,  whatever  their  trade  or  occupations. 
A  handicraft  corporation  is  formed  of  masters,  foremen, 
and  apprentices.  The  members  of  such  a  corporation  are 
either  for  life  or  temporary.  To  the  first  belong  those 
born  as  citizen  burghers ;  to  the  second  foreign  artisans, 
free  peasants,  as  well  as  serfs  who  have  learned  the  special 
handicraft  or  are  received  among  the  masters  in  the  corpo 
ration,  being  thus  inscribed  for  a  certain  time,  without, 
however,  belonging  to  the  general  class  of  citizen  burghers. 
The  body  of  workmen  is  composed  of  all  registered  in  the 
records  of  the  town,  and  not  belonging  to  any  of  the  above- 
mentioned  classes,  of  men  unfit  for  the  military  service  or 
those  having  finished  it,  of  foreign  immigrants,  artisans,  or 
apprentices,  but  excluding  those  of  bad  character,  and  all 
those  expelled  for  bad  behavior,  or  for  the  non-payment  of 
communal  taxes,  or  the  evading  to  fulfil  personal  duties. 

Any  one  enjoying  the  right  to  make  a  selection  of  a 
corporation,  trade,  or  occupation  for  life,  can  enter  the 
class  of  citizen  burghers,  abandoning  thus  his  inferior  po 
sition  and  passing  over  to  the  superior  one.  For  this  he 
must  be  legally  and  officially  accepted  by  the  community 
which  he  wishes  to  join.  Exceptions  exist  for  some  arti 
sans  where  the  legal  assent  of  the  community  to  the  act  of 
admission  is  not  necessary.  Thus,  for  example,  cloth- 
weavers,  dyers  and  dressers,  and  machinists,  can  join  a 
general  city  corporation  or  community,  without  obtaining 
the  formality  of  its  assent. 

Free  or  crown  peasants  can  join  the  corporation  of 
burghers  individually  or  with  their  families,  and  so  «an 
rural  communes,  if  they  are  traders,  'mechanics,  rsrtV  -.  .;<, 


THE    BOURGEOISIE.  141 

or  manufacturers,  but  not  as  agriculturists.  Individuals 
passing  thus  from  one  state  to  another,  must  obtain  the 
assent  of  the  commune  which  they  abandon,  as  well  as  the 
acceptance  of  that  which  they  enter.  When  this  is  to  be 
done  by  a  whole  rural  community,  the  permission  of  the 
government  is  necessary.  Widows  and  daughters  of  free 
peasants  can,  under  certain  conditions,  become  incorpora 
ted  among  the  citizen  burghers. 

Independent  agriculturists  (a  kind  of  free  yeomen),  as 
well  as  emancipated  serfs,  can  join  a  city  corporation  with 
its  assent. 

Jews,  as  well  as  seceders  from  the  state  or  the  ortho 
dox  Greco-Russian  Church  can  only  join  corporations  in 
transcaucasian  cities.  Asiatic  nomades,  of  all  races  and 
kinds,  Kirgises,  etc.,  can,  at  their  choice,  enter  any  city 
corporation  whatever,  and  no  objection  can  be  raised  to 
this  by  the  commune. 

The  following  are  the  rights  and  the  composition  of  a 
municipal  commune.  Its  members  can  hold  legal  meet 
ings  for  the  debating  and  settling  of  objects  of  general  in 
terest,  necessity,  and  utility.  So  says  the  code  of  law, 
swod  zakonow.  These  meetings  are  either  general,  formed 
collectively  by  all  the  various  members  of  the  general  city 
corporation,  or  special,  for  each  special  corporation;  as, 
for  example,  for  merchants,  burghers,  or  workmen.  A  gen 
eral  meeting  is  held  every  three  years,  being  called  together 
by  the  governor  of  the  county,  and  presided  over  by  the 
mayor,  who  is  called  golowa  or  head.  The  legal  age  for 
the  exercise  of  the  right  of  voting  is  25  years.  At  such 
triennial  meetings,  the  community  elects  members  for  its 
internal  administration — as  the  mayor,  the  common  coun 
cil,  called  dumaj  the  magistracy  or  board  of  aldermen,  a 
special  board  for  affairs  relating  to  artisans,  a  board  to 


142  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

superintend  the  recruiting  of  soldiers,  and  a  board  of  depu 
ties  to  look  over  the  administrative  accounts. 

The  community  of  any  city  can  erect  a  communal  bank 
according  to  the  prescriptions  of  special  laws. 

No  citizen  burgher  can  be  deprived  of  his  standing  or 
special  privileges  otherwise  than  by  the  verdict  of  a  crimi 
nal  tribunal.  In  all  civil  as  well  as  criminal  matters,  if 
both  the  parties  are  of  the  same  class,  the  case  comes  first 
before  the  board  of  magistrates. 

Merchants  of  the  first  guild,  or  their  children,  when  the 
parents  have  belonged  for  twenty-five  years  uninterrupt 
edly  to  the  guild,  have  the  right  to  enter  the  civil  or  mili 
tary  service  under  the  same  conditions  as  the  children  of 
personal  nobles.  Merchants  of  the  second  guild,  or  their 
children,  cannot  enter  the  civil  service  at  all,  and  the  mili 
tary  only  as  volunteers ;  that  is,  with  the  right  to  leave  it 
again  at  any  time.  All  other  merchants,  citizen  burghers, 
or  their  children,  are  not  admitted  into  the  civil  service 
on  any  condition  whatever,  and  when  they  enter  the  mili 
tary,  do  not  enjoy  any  privilege  whatever,  but  are  treated 
like  all  the  common  recruits.  A  citizen  burgher  registered 
in  one  of  the  three  guilds  is  free  from  the  general  recruit 
ing  to  which  all  other  burghers  are  subject.  He  also  does 
not  pay  to  the  state  the  capitation  tax,  called  poduschnoe 
(from  the  soul),  as  he  already  pays  an  interest  on  the  capi 
tal  for  which  he  is  inscribed  in  the  guild.  All  other  com 
mercial  taxes  are  paid  by  the  burghers  in  common  with 
the  rest  of  the  inhabitants.  Any  citizen  burgher  can  own 
houses  or  other  real  estate  situated  in  cities  or  villages,  or 
lots  of  naked  land — that  is,  land  without  serfs.  Citizen 
burghers  not  inscribed  in  any  guild,  but  owning  houses  in 
cities  valued  above  $5,000,  are  obliged  to  register  their 
names  at  least  in  the  third  guild,  and  pay  the  interest  on 
their  capital.  Such  houses  can  be  owned  by  widows  or 


THE    BOURGEOISIE.  143 

unmarried  daughters  of  the  class  of  merchants,  but  on  con 
dition  of  registration  in  a  guild.  Merchants  can  belong  tc 
and  be  registered  in  rural  communities  according  to  cer 
tain  prescriptions  of  the  law. 

If  a  merchant,  or  in  general  any  citizen  burgher,  in 
herits  landed  estates  with  serfs  on  them,  the  serfs  are  to 
be  sold  immediately  to  the  crown  domains  at  the  average 
price  of  from  $150  to  $200  the  soul — the  right  of  owning 
serfs  being  reserved  exclusively  to  the  nobility.  The  citi 
zen  burghers  can  be  deprived  of  their  property  only  by  the 
judgment  of  a  civil  tribunal. 

No  citizen  burgher  registered  in  the  general,  or  in  any 
of  the  special  corporations,  can  step  out  of  it,  and  abandon 
the  city  where  he  is  incorporated,  by  settling  in  another, 
without  the  assent  of  the  community  or  the  permission  of 
the  government.  Any  citizen  burgher  can  pass  into  the 
close  corporation  of  the  merchants,  on  declaring  the  amount 
of  capital  required  to  be  inscribed  in  one  of  the  three 
guilds,  and  paying  to  the  treasury  the  interest  thereon. 

Each  community  can  exclude  any  member  under  cri 
minal  condemnation,  or  of  notorious  bad  character.  The 
city  of  Moscow  has  alone  the  privilege  of  giving  up  such 
individuals  to  the  government,  either  as  recruits,  to  be 
reckoned  as  furnished  in  any  future  levy,  or  for  the  colo 
nization  of  Siberia.  Children  of  such  convicts,  above 
fourteen  years  of  age,  have  the  option  either  to  follow  the 
father  or  to  remain  in  the  community.  Minors  not  having 
a  mother,  never  follow  the  parent  when  sent  to  Siberia. 

Above  all  the  subdivisions  of  the  bourgeoisie,  and  thus 
above  the  close  corporation  of  the  merchants — even  those 
of  the  first  guild — rises  the  legal  privilege  of  the  respect 
able  citizen,  potchotnoi  grazdanin.  This  is  a  privilege, 
either  enjoyed  for  life  or  hereditary.  Children  of  per 
eonal  nobles  become  hereditary  respectable  citizens. 


144  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

One  who,  in  virtue  of  the  social  position  of  his  father 
as  a  merchant  of  the  first  guild,  or  as  a  savant,  a  physi 
cian,  etc.,  has  acquired  the  right  to  complete  a  course  of 
studies  in  one  of  the  universities  of  the  empire,  can  peti 
tion  the  government  to  be  included  in  the  class  of  respect 
able  citizens,  on  producing  testimonials  of  having  finished 
the  higher  studies,  and  of  good  conduct  during  his  stay 
at  the  university.  The  same  is  conceded  to  artists  when 
they  produce  testimonials  from  the  national  academies  of 
art;  to  children  of  merchants  of  the  first  and  second 
guilds,  who  have  passed  with  special  distinction  through 
the  studies  of  the  universities,  to  pupils  of  special  com 
mercial  schools,  to  artists  who  are  foreigners  by  birth,  etc. 

At  first  sight  it  would  seem  laudable,  that  laborious 
and  well  accomplished  studies,  as  well  as  artistical  dis 
tinction,  should  open  the  door  to  a  higher  grade  in  the 
social  scale.  But  on  more  close  consideration,  this  appa 
rent  liberality  loses  greatly  in  its  character.  It  is  de 
prived  of  the  lofty  spirit  of  universality  which  alone  makes 
such  distinction  praiseworthy.  It  has  the  narrowness  in 
herent  in  exceptions  and  superpositions.  It  is  a  privilege 
conceded  to  one  already  privileged.  It  excludes  here  as 
it  does  every  where,  the  man  of  genius,  who  by  accident  is 
not  born  in  a  certain  privileged  cradle.  It  reduces  to 
some  few  what  ought  to  be  accessible  to  all.  It  is  thus 
restricted,  narrow,  and  exclusive.  Vainly  is  it  represent 
ed  as  being  a  stimulus  to  the  acquisition  of  social  distinc 
tion  by  intellectual  labor,  by  mental  accomplishments.  It 
is  so  but  partially  in  a  very  limited  way.  It  has  the 
whole  smell  of  caste  instead  of  having  the  elevated  char 
acter  of  being  for  the  benefit  of  the  wht»le  people.  It 
shuts  out  the  poor,  the  unprotected  by  purse  or  patronage. 
It  is  stale  and  musty  in  its  nature,  rather  than  bright  and 
serene  as  ought  to  be  a  genuine  incitement  of  true  civili- 


145 

zation,  securing  well-deserved  social  superiority  and  con 
sideration. 

Members  of  the  merchant  class,  on  whom  the  govern 
ment  has  conferred  the  honorary  title  of  commercial  or 
manufacturing  councillors,  if  they  have  never  suffered  any 
criminal  indictment,  and  never  failed  in  business,  can 
themselves,  as  can  their  widows,  rise  into  the  class  of 
hereditary  respectable  citizens.  So  can  merchants,  who 
have  belonged  uninterruptedly  for  ten  years  to  the  first, 
and  for  twenty  to  the  second  guild.  Any  one  who  has 
obtained  the  diploma  of  doctor  or  of  master  from  any  of 
the  Russian  Universities,  can  petition  the  government  to 
be  included  in  the  class  of  hereditary  respectable  citizens ; 
artists  and  special  pupils  of  the  Academy  of  Arts,  have 
also  this  right  on  presenting  their  diploma  of  membership. 
Foreigners  living  in  Russia,  if  they  are  savans,  artists, 
merchants,  or  owners  of  extensive  manufacturing  establish 
ments,  if  they  become  Russian  subjects  and  have  already 
belonged  for  ten  years  to  the  class  of  personal  respectable 
citizens,  have  the  right  to  petition  for  admission  into  the 
hereditary  class  of  the  same  title.  The  rights  and  privi 
leges  of  respectable  citizens  consist  in  liberating  them 
from  the  capitation  tax,  poduschnoe>  from  the  recruit 
ment,  from  corporal  punishment  by  either  civil  or  mili 
tary  judgment,  from  having  their  head  shaved  during 
arrest  and  pending  trial.  All  the  rest  of  the  bourgeoisie, 
in  criminal  as  well  as  in  police  affairs,  are  subject  to  per 
sonal  punishment,  inflicted  by  rods,  palki,  or  the  cat-o'- 
uine-tails,  pleinia. 

Below  the  bourgeoisie  with  all  the  above  enumerated 
subdivisions  and  various  special  corporations,  from  that 
of  the  merchants,  down  to'  that  of  the  workmen,  there 
exists  a  still  inferior  class  called  that  of  the  suburban 
inhabitants,  not  separately  incorporated,  but  administered 
7 


146  *   RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

by  the  boards  of  the  city  to  which  they  belong.  It  is 
composed,  principally  of  agriculturists  or  day  laborers, 
who  thus  form  the  last  link  between  the  bourgeoisie  and 
the  peasants.  All  other  persons  living  in  any  city  by 
special  permission,  and  devoted  to  trade,  or  artisans,  are 
called  simply  inhabitants  or  citizens,  zytel,  obywatel,  from 
bywat,  to  frequent. 

This  is  a  condensed  outline  of  the  legal  and  social 
position  of  the  Russian  bourgeoisie.  In  surveying  the 
whole,  some  more  minute  and  less  interesting  details  have 
been  omitted.  Being  a  distinct  body,  the  bourgeoisie  form 
their  own  boards  or  committees  of  internal  administration. 
But  these  committees  are  under  the  direction  of  tho 
government,  exercised  by  the  governor  of  the  county,  by 
the  chief  of  police,  who  is  generally  a  resigned  military 
officer,  and  in  judicial  affairs,  by  the  government  attorney 
and  his  assistants,  striaptschi.  The  recorder  of  the  trien 
nial  meetings  is  elective.  By  the  nature  of  the  above 
enumerated  divisions,  into  which  the  inhabitants  of  every 
municipal  community  are  cut  up,  and  as  a  result  of  the 
existing  numerous  classes  and  of  the  minute  definitions 
of  the  position  and  of  the  rights  of  each — from  all  this 
arises  the  obligation  to  keep  up  a  kind  of  precise  heraldic 
record  for  each  special  corporation,  nay,  even  for  each 
family ;  and  such  a  recorder,  called  starost  or  elder,  is 
elected  by  the  community.  The  inhabitants  of  the  larger 
cities  elect  for  their  internal  administration  of  justice,  a 
kind  of  arbiter,  as  well  as  judges  in  each  ward;  like 
wise  a  board  for  directing  and  distributing  the  quarters 
for  garrisoned  or  transient  soldiers.  In  such  cities  there 
are  architectural  boards,  elected  for  directing  the  con 
struction  of  new  houses ;  guardians  and  superintendents 
of  public  municipal  buildings,  as  well  as  of  private  ones. 
Further,  there  are  members  and  directors  of  the  establish- 


THE    BOURGEOISIE.  147 

ments  of  public  credit  and  of  banks,  where  they  exist. 
Thus,  for  example,  in  Petersburg,  there  being  a  special 
commercial  bank,  issuing  bills,  its  operations  are  directed 
by  a  special  board  elected  by  the  merchant  class,  but  pre 
sided  over  by  a  nominee  of  the  government.  In  large 
commercial  cities,  special  commercial  tribunals  are  like 
wise  elected,  as  are  the  members  of  the  boards  of  quaran 
tine,  brokers,  notaries  public,  auctioneers,  assayers,  and, 
in  Petersburg,  a  committee  to  direct  and  watch  over  the 
public  exchange ;  there  is,  however,  not  much  jobbing,  as 
foreign  stocks  are  prohibited  from  being  quoted,  and  the 
domestic  ones  are  not  so  numerous  and  fluctuating  as  to 
attract  and  stir  up  the  gambling  passion.  The  operations 
on  the  exchange  are,  for  the  most  part,  purely  commer 
cial. 

In  all  these  general  as  well  as  special  elections,  nobles 
owning  houses  in  cities,  which  they  generally  do,  but  not 
inscribed  in  the  guilds,  can  participate  only  by  fulfilling 
the  formality  of  entering  one  of  the  guilds,  and  then  they 
can  be  elected  to  any  office  within  the  range  of  the  bour 
geoisie.  But  no  public  functionaries  of  the  government, 
even  if  owners  of  houses,  can  be  elected  to  any  muni 
cipal  office.  In  this  sort  of  official  contact  with  the 
noblese  the  bourgeoisie  maintains  its  ground  rather  proud 
ly  and  haughtily.  As  the  class  of  citizens  are  not  ad 
mitted  to  enjoy  any  right  or  privilege  of  the  nobility,  and 
cannot  meet  the  nobility  any  where  on  equal  footing,  they 
do  not  feel  at  all  honored,  as  do  generally  the  bourgeoisie 
of  other  countries,  by  this  participation  of  the  nobles  in 
the  special  rights  reserved  to  the  burghers.  Accordingly, 
though  a  nobleman  may  have  the'  right  to  be  elected  to  a 
municipal  office,  he  is  pretty  sure  to  fail  in  his  attempt. 
Such  things  have  been  tried,  and  almost  always  unsuc 
cessfully.  Even  in  St.  Petersburg,  under  the  immediate 


148  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

pressure  of  the  supreme  government,  nay,  even  under 
that  of  the  personal  interference  of  the  Emperor,  exerted 
to  secure  the  election  for  the  municipal  board  of  a  Na- 
ryschkine  one  for  the  grandees  of  Russia,  and  a  distant 
relation  of  the  Imperial  family — as  the  mother  of  Peter 
the  Great  was  a  Naryschkine — the  bourgeoisie  resisted, 
all  answering  directly  in  the  face  of  the  sovereign,  "  That 
as  the  nobility  did  not  admit  them,  they  would  not  admit 
the  nobility." 

In  all  these  internal  elections  for  jurisdiction  and  ad 
ministration,  the  exclusion  from  any  participation  in  the 
general  government,  or  any  common  action  with  a  superior 
class,  is  strictly  maintained.  The  bourgeoisie  are  sur 
rounded  with  a  fence  which  they  cannot  legally  pass.  In 
one  case  only  the  bourgeoisie  partly  participate  beyond 
this  circumscription,  and  in  an  official  capacity  thus  meets 
the  nobility.  It  is  in  the  partial  administration  of  civil 
and  criminal  justice.  The  first  Judicial  Courts  are  com 
posed,  as  we  have  shown,  of  specially  elected  municipal 
magistrates.  The  second,  or  Courts  of  Appeals,  are  the 
tribunals  in  each  county,  formed  from  members  elected 
by  the  nobility.  To  each  of  these  tribunals,  the  citizen 
burghers  of  the  city  where  the  tribunal  is  situated,  elect 
one  member  to  the  civil  and  another  to  the  criminal  juris 
diction. 

This  is  the  only  case  where  the  bourgeoisie  reach  be 
yond  the  borders  of  a  close  corporation,  and  participate 
in  something  legally  superior.  But  not  even  in  this  case 
are  they  put  on  equal  ground  with  the  higher  class.  Each 
of  the  tribunals  is  composed  of  a  president  and  of  three 
members  elected  by  the  nobility — of  a  vice-president  and 
a  recorder,  named  by  the  government,  both  of  whom  are 
of  course,  noblemen.  To  them  is  added  one  burgher  only, 
and  one  free  peasant,  both  of  whom  have  scarcely  a  voice 


THE    BOURGEOISIE.  149 

in  the  council  when  the  pending  suit  does  not  concern  any 
member  of  their  own  class. 

The  above  succinct  sketch  of  the  various  shades  and 
subdivisions  into  which  the  Russian  bourgeoisie  are  divid 
ed,  is  sufficient  to  give  an  idea  how  complicated,  circum 
scribed  and  cut  up  in  parcels,  how  cramped  and  surround 
ed  with  iron  bonds,  is  this  numerous  and  eminent  body  in 
the  Russian  social  order.  Obstructed  in  any  free  move 
ment,  heavily  chained  by  laws  based  on  the  spirit  of  caste, 
they  can  by  no  means  move  onwards,  but  are  forced  to  la 
bor  for  ever  in  the  same  arena  as  in  a  tread-mill,  fettered 
perpetually  to  the  same  spot.  If  the  citizen  burgher 
wishes  to  change  his  legal  domicil,  to  remove  his  estab 
lishment  from  one  city  or  region  to  another,  he  is  obliged 
to  go  through  the  narrow  pass  of  various  oppressive  for 
malities.  Impediments  meet  him  at  every  footstep ;  per 
mission,  assent,  admission — there  is  nothing  like  freedom. 
With  the  exception  of  a  very  small  number  among  the 
whole,  who  reach  the  region  of  special  privileges,  the  vast 
majority  of  this  class,  are  by  the  law  of  caste,  almost  ab 
solutely  prevented  from  giving  a  substantial,  mental  and 
intellectual  development  to  their  children  by  a  thorough 
education.  The  impediments  thrown  in  their  way  extend 
almost  equally  to  both  sexes.  Thus  woman  may  be  said 
to  be  subjected  to  a  mental  stupor.  The  limitations,  or 
rather  exclusion  by  the  law  of  the  male  from  the  pale  of 
higher  culture  and  attainments,  so  penetrate  and  pervade 
the  customs  and  the  practice  in  common  domestic  life,  as 
to  cast  a  heavy  and  lifeless  cloud  around  the  household 
hearth.  In  the  primary  or  elementary  common  schools, 
established  in  large  cities,  districts,  towns,  and  smaller 
boroughs,  the  teaching  is  limited  to  the  first  rudiments, 
such  as  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  occasionally  to 
burning  incense  at  the  altar  of  Czarism.  In  such  schools 


L50  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

the  girls  of  the  burghers  can  be  taught.  But  there  is  no 
possibility  of  any  further  education,  no  opening  whatever 
for  an  onward  progress.  With  the  exception  of  St.  Pe 
tersburg,  Moscow,  Odessa,  and  a  few  other  cities,  there 
exists  no  public  boarding-schools  where  young  girls  can 
be  instructed.  St.  Petersburg,  Moscow,  and  some  other 
places  have  large  establishments,  where  the  daughters  of 
the  nobility  are  brought  up  and  educated,  or  at  least  var 
nished.  These  establishments  are  under  the  superinten 
dence  of  the  Empress,  and  of  the  great  ladies  of  the  Court. 
For  admission  therein,  the  daughters  of  military  and  civil 
officers  and  their  orphans  have  the  precedence  over  others. 
The  great  number  of  the  daughters  of  nobles  receive  their 
education  at  home,  by  the  means  of  private  governesses, 
who,  by  the  law,  are  subject  to  the  ministry  of  public  in 
struction,  and  are  to  be  licensed  by  it.  Wealthy  burghers 
resort  sometimes  to  the  same  expedient  for  educating  their 
children — but  it  is  as  a  drop  of  water  in  the  ocean.  The 
great  bulk  have  within  their  reach  no  resources  for  be 
coming  educated.  They  can  find  around  them  no  remedy 
for  this  evil.  The  government  holds  all  in  its  grasp,  and 
regards  it  as  an  axiom,  "  that  the  higher  branches  of  edu 
cation  are  not  only  unnecessary,  but  a  nuisance  to  this 
class."  Thus  for  the  children  of  common  burghers,  nei 
ther  high  schools  nor  universities  are  accessible.  They 
are  doomed  to  eternal  intellectual  depression  and  igno 
rance.  And  even  if  by  receiving  elementary  instruction, 
they  are,  so  to  say,  put  in  the  possession  of  the  keys  to  the 
sanctuary,  still  no  kernel,  no  pure  seed,  is  planted  in  the 
youthful  mind ;  no  corner  stone  is  laid  by  thorough  men 
tal  discipline,  and  by  really  beneficial  studies.  Thus  read 
ing  in  after  life  is  limited  to  indifferent  if  not  bad  works, 
and  to  a  few  national  poets.  The  press,  crushed  as  it  is, 
cannot  exercise  any  beneficial  stimulus  on  the  general 


THE    BOURGEOISIE.  151 

spirit.  Their  is  no  impulsion  from  within,  as  there  is  no 
attraction  exercised  from  without.  No  craving  for  diver 
sified  knowledge,  or  even  information,  there  being  no  arena 
in  which  to  display  the  acquired  powers,  no  congenial  at 
mosphere  to  breathe,  to  live  in.  A  dull,  leaden  pressure 
grinds  and  destroys  every  intellectual  germ.  No  career 
opens  freely,  easily,  before  the  burgher,  even  if  well  edu 
cated,  even  if  his  intellect  be  well  stored  with  knowledge, 
science,  acquirements.  Thus  the  higher  powers  of  mind, 
if  even  laboriously  developed  by  him,  cannot  be  freely  ex 
ercised  ;  and  if  accidentally  they  find  a  sphere,  very  soon 
they  become  productive  only  of  disappointment,  mortifi 
cation,  disgust  with  the  existing  state  of  things,  and  finally 
they  open  to  him  the  road  to  Siberia  alone.  All  these 
reasons  account  for  the  still  apparent  indifference  of  the 
great  number  of  men  and  women,  of  fathers  and  mothers, 
of  the  class  of  the  bourgeoisie,  as  to  the  mental  improve 
ments  and  accomplishments  in  their  children.  By  the 
unavoidable  influence  of  caste,  and  of  the  governmental 
legal  impediments  and  restrictions,  which  are  transfused, 
helplessly  for  the  present,  into  the  national  manners  and 
notions  of  every-day  life,  the  sober  judgment  becomes  al 
tered,  perverted,  and  higher  studies  are  looked  on  rather 
as  a  heavy  burden,  and  a  nuisance  in  the  smooth  current 
of  existence  by  those  from  among  the  body  of  citizens  who 
might  be  devoted  to  them.  Such  persons  lose  ground  on 
their  own  special  soil,  without  being  able  to  ascend  easily, 
or  pass  over  to  another  higher  one.  Unhappily,  this  apa 
thy  is  fostered  not  only  by  the  action  of  the  government, 
but  very  often  by  the  influence  of  the  numerous  white  and 
black  clergy,  or  monts  and  priests — an  influence  quite 
preponderating  over  the  burghers. 

Few,  very  few  at  present,  can   shake  off  these  leaden 
weights  thus  heaped  upon  them  ;  and  very  few  are  actuated 


152  RUSSIA   AS    IT    IS. 

strongly  enough  by  an  inward  energy,  to  devote  their  time 
to  mental  acquisitions. 

Thus  the  so-called  self-made  men  are  extraordinary 
apparitions  in  Russia,  and  very  few  names  break  through 
the  gloom  and  shine  in  the  records  of  the  national  litera 
ture.  Such  a  name,  for  example,  is  now  that  of  Polevoi, 
who,  being  by  trade  a  bookseller  in  Moscow,  devoted  his 
time  to  studies,  to  national  historical  researches,  whose  re 
sult  was  not  quite  orthodox  concerning  Czarism,  the  pri 
vileges  of  the  nobility,  the  oppression  of  the  burghers,  the 
establishment  and  the  legality  of  serfdom.  Aside  from 
this,  he  edited  one  of  the  best  periodicals  in  Russia,  and 
shunned  not  to  open  its  columns  to  more  daring  spirits, 
nor,  as  far  as  his  means  allowed,  to  stand  by  young,  enter 
prising  and  spirited  writers.  As  a  literary  man  and  his 
torian,  he  was  attacked  by  more  orthodox  writers,  princi 
pally  by  those  of  St.  Petersburg,  influenced  by  their  con 
tact  with  the  ruling  power  and  with  the  aristocracy.  Cau 
tion  and  even  silence  was  advised  by  the  police,  and  finally 
as  a  business  man  he  was  ruined,  by  standing  nearly  alone 
among  his  class.  Not,  however,  that  the  citizen  burghers 
turned  against  him.  They  only  mistrusted  his  capacity 
for  business,  diverted  as  were  his  thoughts  by  higher  and 
different  pursuits. 

From  these  facts  we  ought,  however,  not  to  conclude 
that  the  Russian  bourgeoisie  are  wholly  dulled  as  to  the 
value  of  mental  superiority.  Bereaved  of  the  possibility 
of  finding  from  it  any  immediate  benefit  for  themselves, 
they  notwithstanding  feel  and  recognize  its  worth  in  others. 
Thus,  professors  of  universities — above  all  if  Russians 
by  birth  and  in  genuine  Russian  cities,  such  as  Moscow. 
Charkoff,  Kasan  and  Kiiow — are  generally  surrounded 
with  respect,  and  enjoy  great  consideration  among  the 
citizens,  wealthy  or  poor.  There  they  exert  an  influence 


THE   BOURGEOISIE.  153 

upon  the  bourgeoisie  unequalled  by  that  in  any  cities  of 
other  countries.  These  Professors  might  easily  make 
themselves  the  absolute  masters  of  public  opinion,  as  far 
at  least  as  concerns  the  less  privileged  classes,  the  burgh 
ers,  and  the  people.  And  this  above  all  is  the  case  in 
Moscow.  The  bourgeoisie  in  Moscow  and  in  the  other 
cities  of  the  interior  named  above,  are  likewise  imbued  to 
a  great  extent  with  national  panslavistic  ideas.  All  this 
forms  a  consolatory  indication  for  the  future. 

In  any  legal  action,  in  the  pursuits  of  business  as  well 
as  in  the  intellectual  pursuits,  wherever  a  burgher  turns 
his  path  or  directs  his  views  or  aspirations,  he  is  swaddled 
in  restrictions  which  affect  his  mind,  his  body,  his  way  of 
life.  The  thorny  barrier  of  privilege  bristles  in  his  path, 
staring  fiendishly  at  him.  By  every  action,  by  every 
movement,  by  every  pulse  of  time,  he  is  rudely  reminded 
of  his  humiliating  subjection,  not  only  to  Czarism  and  its 
minions  who  manipulate  the  reins  of  government,  but  also 
to  the  nobility. 

By  nature  active  and  industrious,  and  thrown  by  the 
social  organization  into  an  exclusive  area,  reduced,  so  to 
say,  to  a  special  pursuit  in  life — it  would  appear  that  the 
Russian  burgher  has  before  him  inexhaustible  means  for 
increasing  his  wealth,  and  for  bettering  his  condition. 
Undoubtedly,  a  very  large  amount  of  accumulated  or 
moneyed  capital  is  possessed  by  the  middle  classes.  But 
in  proportion  to  the  vitality  and  the  impulse  which  a  free 
use  of  this  capital  could  give  to  the  internal  movement 
and  the  development  of  the  inexhaustible  resources  of  the 
country  :  most  of  these  invigorating  sources  once  accumu 
lated  by  individuals,  remain  barren  to  a  great  extent  in  their 
hands  when  compared  with  their  large  amount. 

The  same  impediments,  surrounding  as  they  do,  the 
every-day  life  of  the  burgher,  prevent  the  free  use  of  the 
7* 


154  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

means  at  his  disposal.  Whatever  he  undertakes,  a  con 
cession,  a  license,  a  permission  is  necessary.  Every  com 
mercial  and  manufacturing  enterprise  brings  him  continu 
ally  in  contact  with  the  officials,  and  he  has  good  reasons 
to  avoid  the  like  conjunctions.  No  real  liberty  exists  for 
this  class,  even  in  the  exercise  of  occupations  to  which  it 
is  exclusively  reduced.  In  every  respect  the  burgher  is 
either  tutored,  lead  by  a  string,  or  carefully  watched  over. 
When  in  a  legal  or  commercial  business  he  falls  into  the 
hands  of  functionaries,  high  or  low,  he"is  considered  as  a 
fair  prize,  as  a  pigeon  to  be  plucked  to  the  last  feather. 
The  law  obliges  him  to  petition  to  different  authorities  if 
he  wishes  to  pass  from  an  inferior  to  a  superior  corporation. 
But  if  such  obligatory  petition  is  not  backed  by  a  greater 
or  less  gratification  to  the  referees,  all  will  be  useless  to 
the  applicant :  even  when  he  has  right  on  his  side.  For 
every  step  in  his  business  or  his  career,  the  burgher  is 
obliged  to  secure  patronage,  paying  a  higher  and  higher 
price  for  it.  This  is  not  all.  Wo  to  the  enterprising  and 
wealthy  man, — whose  activity  and  extension  of  business 
brings  him,  in  various  respects,  into  contact  with  these 
governmental  birds  of  prey.  It  is  useless  for  him  to  try 
to  escape  their  clutches.  The  greater  the  wealth,  the 
larger  the  enterprise,  the  more  will  he  be  fleeced.  If  he 
contracts  for  any  work  connected  with  the  government,  as 
construction  of  public  buildings,  roads,  farming  of  spiri 
tual  liquors,  or  the  furnishing  the  army  or  navy :  he  is 
obliged  to  divide  his  profits  with  the  greedy  jackals  around 
him — happy  if  he  escape  with  a  whole  skin — if  he  be  not 
entirely  ruined.  Hence  springs  up  a  mistrust,  crippling 
any  large  enterprise,  the  more  so  where  the  government 
assumes  the  direction  or  co-acts,  as  in  railroads,  steam 
boats,  etc. ;  the  burgher,  the  capitalist  shuns  all  these  gen 
erally.  In  this  manner,  notwithstanding  the  moneyed 


THE    BOURGEOISIE.  155 

wealth  accumulated  in  the  empire,  which  is  far  more  than 
sufficient  to  construct  railroads  in  various  directions,  for 
eign  loans  are  necessary,  as  the  home  capitalist  has  no  wish 
to  share  in  an  enterprise  where  the  government  is  the  ex 
clusive  manager.  There  is  no  country  where  the  con 
struction  of  railroads  could  be  made  cheaper  than  in  Rus 
sia.  For  there  are  few,  if  any,  considerable  inequalities 
of  the  ground,  the  land  is  cheap,  indeed  may  be  had  nearly 
for  nothing,  the  wages  too,  are  low,  and  the  masses  of  the 
army  are  able  to  supply  thousands  and  thousands  of  good 
laborers.  And  yet,  after  all,  there  is  but  one  line  finished 
as  yet,  and  that,  too,  at  an  immense  cost — as  it  was  work 
ed  nearly  twice  over — the  levellings  and  embankments 
having  broken  down  the  first  time. 

Foreigners,  travellers,  writers,  seeing  how  little  is  done, 
and  being  unable  to  account  for  the  cause,  discern  only 
the  busy  government  intermeddling  with  every  thing ; 
they  take  the  glitter  for  a  reality,  praise  the  despotism, 
accuse  the  nation  of  inactivity,  and  slander  the  people. 

But  notwithstanding  all  the  numerous  difficulties  men 
tioned  above,  the  Russian  burgher  has  still  acquired 
wealth.  He  has  reached  the  most  elevated  summits 
granted  to  his  class.  Another  still  higher  range  of  privi 
lege  rises  before  him,  and  impedes  the  free  use  of  his 
wealth  in  nearly  every  direction.  He  cannot  own  and 
purchase  landed  estates  with  serfs.  Without  them  the 
land  is  nearly  worthless,  as  the  population  has  not  reached 
that  degree  to  supply  hands  for  all  uncultivated  lands. 
In  Russia  as  in  all  old  countries,  landed  estates  are  rep 
resented  by  villages  together  with  the  inhabitants,  the 
peasants.  Thus  burghers  cannot  possess  village^.  Such  ab 
solute  exclusion  of  the  capitalist  keeps  down  the  value  of 
•states,  and  hurts  agriculture.  Generally  no  fresh  capital 
pours  into  its  channel ;  no  invigorating  industry  renovates 


156  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

the  old,  coarse  routine.  The  exclusion,  too,  of  burghers 
from  possessing  villages  is  not  limited  to  Russia  proper. 
The  German  or  Baltic  provinces  are  in  the  same  condition, 
and  here  it  is  the  work  of  the  nobility  without  any  inter 
ference  on  the  part  of  the  Russian  government.  Notwith 
standing  that  for  nearly  half  a  century  serfdom  was  abol 
ished  by  Alexander  in  these  provinces — the  burgher  can 
not  yet  acquire  landed  estates,  called  manored  (Germanice 
Rittergut).  The  nobility  appeal  to  the  Russian  law  to 
strengthen  the  ancient  feudal  privileges,  and  so  exclude 
the  burghers,  even  of  common  German  descent.  In  Po 
land  no  such  exclusion  or  limitation  exists,  burghers  or  pea 
sants  can  own  manors  and  villages. 

Just  in  the  same  way  as  the  Russian  burgher  is  pre 
vented  from  using  his  wealth  for  acquiring  landed  property, 
he  cannot  use  it  to  bestow  upon  his  children  a  thorough 
education — with  a  few  privileged  exceptions.  These  cases 
have  been  already  enumerated.  Deprived  of  this  advan 
tage  at  home,  he  even  cannot  seek  it  for  them  abroad. 
The  law  prohibits  the  burgher  from  travelling  into  foreign 
countries  without  a  permission,  which  is  seldom  granted 
and  only  for  commercial  affairs,  or  on  account  of  health. 
Besides,  an  education  received  abroad  is  generally  a  dis 
qualification  for  a  public  career  at  home,  and  to  a  son  of  a 
burgher  this  would  be  more  rigidly  applied  than  to  that 
of  a  nobleman. 

But  even  in  the  city  where  he  lives,  the  burgher  can 
not  gratify  all  his  tastes.  A  species  of  sumptuary  law  re 
gulates  his  expenditure.  Burghers  or  their  families  are 
not  allowed  to  use  carriages  with  two  horses,  but  only  to 
drive  them  with  one.  To  be  sure  this  is  not  strictly  en 
forced,  and  at  least  the  wives  and  daughters  use  a  carriage 
and  pair ;  but  to  be  able  to  enjoy  this  luxury  they  must 
be  on  good  terms  with  the  police,  and  pay  for  it. 


THE    BOURGEOISIE.  157 

As  a  trader,  or  engaged  in  any  business  whatever,  the 
Russian  is  active,  shrewd  and  cunning — a  match  for  any. 
The  intellectual  powers  of  the  whole  people  are  acute,  and 
would  be  more  so  if  they  could  enjoy  fair  play,  and  afield 
could  be  thrown  open  to  them  where  they  would  enjoy  lib 
erty  and  education.  But  mind  and  intellect  are  depress 
ed  and  confined  as  well  as  the  social  position.  Any  en 
terprise  or  invention  must  pass  through  the  governmental 
seive.  Another  warping  influence  is  the  impossibility  of 
free  intercourse  and  communication  with  the  civilized 
world  beyond  the  frontiers  of  Russia.  For  centuries  the 
Russian  people,  through  their  geographical  position,  were 
secluded  from  contact  with  other  nations.  Their  immediate 
neighbors  were  the  Poles  and  Turks,  enemies,  and,  to  a 
certain  extent,  even  inferiors  in  every  stage  of  culture. 
Hence  arose  in  the  minds  of  the  Russian  people  partly  a 
contempt  for  innovations  coming  from  abroad  through 
hirelings,  and  partly  an  aversion  towards  foreigners.  This 
feeling  is  now  beginning  to  die  out  slowly,  but  still  there 
prevails  a  morbid  love  of  old  routine,  nourished  somewhat 
by  conceit,  and  somewhat  by  laziness. 

The  government  dexterously  avails  itself  of  this  pre 
disposition,  fostering  it  equally  by  laws  and  flattery,  and 
encouraging  mistrust,  principally  when  it  concerns  Europe 
or  the  West.  With  Asia  the  Russian  trader  of  every 
class  entertains  a  direct  and  unlimited  personal  inter 
course.  The  great  exporting  trade  to  Europe  is  princi 
pally  in  the  hands  of  foreigners,  above  all  Englishmen, 
Dutch  and  Germans ;  in  the  south,  in  Odessa,  in  those  of 
Italians,  Greeks,  Armenians  and  Jews.  It  is  not  proba 
ble  indeed  that  there  exists  a  single  autochtone  Russian 
house  carrying  on  a  trade  directly  with  foreign  countries, 
or  having  branches  out  of  Russia.  Raw  produce,  as  for 
example  hides,  grain,  tallow,  hemp,  linen,  timber,  etc.,  is 


158  RUSSIA    AS   IT    IS. 

bought  in  the  interior  by  Russian  traders  from  noblemen^ 
peasants  and  nomads.  Agents  from  Russian  houses  in 
seaports  travel  sometimes  into  the  interior,  but  principally 
merchants  of  Moscow,  Astrachan,  Pazan,  Nijuee-Novgo- 
rod,  etc.,  buy,  store,  and  bring  the  merchandise  finally  to 
the  seaports,  as  St.  Petersburg,  Riga,  Odessa,  where 
it  is  sold  to  Russian  wholesale  dealers  for  cash,  bills  of 
exchange  or  credit  being  rather  unusual  in  internal  trade. 
The  exporter,  the  foreigner,  then  steps  in,  and  purchases, 
so  to  say,  at  the  third  or  fourth  hand.  This  explains  the 
reason  why  the  Russian  merchant-shipping  is  nearly  im 
perceptible. 

The  absence  of  credit  in  all  mercantile  operations  is 
the  result  of  an  imperfect  understanding,  or  rather  false 
conception,  of  its  real  beneficial  nature,  as  well  as  of  the 
distorted  state  of  society.  Mistrust  and  suspicion  pre 
vail  all  over,  and  penetrate  every  social  crevice.  Unfor 
tunately  absolute  mercantile  honesty  is  not  a  prominent 
feature  with  the  Russian  merchant.  But  he  may  be  ex 
cused,  since  he  does  not  see  it  prevail  any  where  around 
or  above  him.  He  acts  on  the  defensive,  and  enjoys  as 
heartily  as  that  whole  class  throughout  the  world,  to  take 
in  others,  or,  as  says  the  Russian,  naduti.  But  this  bad 
faith  has  not  found  root  in  the  national  character,  it  is  on 
the  surface,  generated  by  the  corruption  flowing  from  the 
classes  above  him.  A  general  opinion  prevails  that  it  is 
dimcult  to  trade  with  Russians.  Peter  the  Great  com 
memorated  it  on  the  following  occasion.  It  must  be  men 
tioned  first,  however,  that  the  Jews  never  were,  and  even 
now  are  not  allowed  to  settle  in  Old  Russia,  or  Russia 
Proper,  that  is  the  parts  forming  the  empire  previous  to 
conquests  and  annexations  made  by  Peter  and  his  succes 
sors.  They  can  individually,  however,  sojourn  in  cities 
or  boroughs  for  some  time,  as  workmen,  artisans,  or  me- 


THE    BOURGEOISIE.  159 

chanics,  but  this  only  by  a  special  permission,  and  when 
no  objection  is  made  by  the  Christian  community  or  any 
of  its  members.  But  they  are  not  permitted  to  carry  on 
trade. 

During  the  stay  o.f  Peter  in  Holland,  the  munici 
pality  of  Amsterdam  requested,  as  a  special  favor,  that 
he  would  allow  the  Jews  to  settle  in  his  domains.  He 
refused,  saying,  "  My  beloved  Russians  are  too  smart,  and 
would  strip  the  Jews  of  every  cent !  " 

As  artisan,  mechanic,  or  workman,  the  Russian  dis 
covers,  when  in  good  earnest,  great  skill,  as  well  in  finish 
as.  in  delicacy  of  workmanship.  At  the  recent  exposition 
in  London  there  was  sufficient  evidence  of  this.  Still  it 
is  asserted  that  the  powers  of  the  Russian  intellect  are  ra 
ther  imitative  than  creative ;  that  the  Russians  have  no 
claims  to  originality ;  in  one  word,  that  they  are  apt  only 
to  copy  and  learn  from  others.  Should  this  really  be  the 
case,  then  the  reason  ought  to  be  Woked  for,  not  in  any 
natural  deficiency,  but  in  the  accursed  tutorship  of  the 
government.  Permission  must  be  obtained  before  any  one 
can  become  creator  or  inventor.  And  this  can  be  no  sti 
mulant  to  excite  the  mental  powers,  and  so.  inspire  a 
healthful  activity.  Another  reproach  is  more  justifiable, 
the  one  accusing  the  Russian  artisans  of  not  bestowing 
generally  any  very  minute  accuracy  on  their  work.  This 
want  of  exactness  is  a  fitting  result  from  the  darkness  in 
which  the  people  are  kept,  which  has  ultimately  become, 
so  to  say,  a  chronic  mental  disease,  a  kind  of  fatalistic 
prejudice.  Kak  ni  bud,  "  in  any  way  whatever  ;?>  and  aivos 
pay  dot,  "  maybe  it  will  succeed ;"  are  the  two  sacramental 
phrases  with  which  the  Russian  undertakes  any  work. 
But  we  do  not  wish  to  say  that  the  Russian  mechanic  or 
artisan,  when  pride,  self-love,  or  interest  are  at  stake,  is 
unfit  to  finish  any  work  he  takes  in  hand,  with  matchless 
accuracy. 


'160  RUSSIA  AS  IT  is. 

The  carelessness  referred  to  is  alleged  as  an  excuse  by^ 
the  government  for  introducing  numerous  foreigners,  above 
all,  for  the  construction  of  all  kinds  of  machines.  But  is 
the  education  of  a  Russian  artisan  or  mechanic  fostered  in 
any  way  ?  Are  his  natural  abilities  aided  or  developed  by 
any  scientific  method  whatever  ?  The  fault  lies  exclu 
sively  in  the  social  state,  and  in  the  government  keeping 
all  in  its  own  grasp — cutting  off  every  means  for  a  real 
education  of  the  people.  Further  :  foreign  contractors,  if 
called  into  the  country  by  a  special  arrangement  with  the 
government  to  construct  extensive  works,  do  not  become 
so  easy  a  prey  to  the  myriads  of  lower  officials,  who  ruin 
the  domestic  contractor  by  obliging  him  to  perform  the 
job  cheaply,  and  kak  ni  bud,  for  the  sake  of  increasing 
the  profits  to  be  divided  by  them  in  common,  conniving 
thus  to  cheat  the  government  which  they  serve.  Let  there 
be  the  pure  atmosphere  of  freedom,  and  Russian  industry 
becomes  at  once  creative,  Russian  contractors  honest, 
while  the  native  workman  and  mechanic  will  perfect  and 
improve  his  workmanship. 

In  proportion  to  the  population  of  the  empire  the 
bourgeoisie,  with  all  its  subdivisions,  is  rather  inconsider 
able.  Cities  and  towns  are  scattered  rather  sparingly 
through  the  extensive  country,  and  with  few  exceptions 
they  are  neither  large  nor  densely  populated.  In  the 
principal  cities,  as  Petersburg,  Moscow,  Odessa,  and  a 
few  others  more,  there  is  a  very  large  number  of  floating 
population,  composed  of  peasants  and  serfs.  The  class  of 
real  incorporated  burghers,  at  the  utmost,  amounts  to  but 
few  millions  in  Great  Russia,  or  Russia  Proper.  It  con 
tains,  however,  the  kernel  of  national  growth  and  develop 
ment,  and  in  the  future  this  may  become  the  focus,  or  at 
least  a  powerful  engine,  in  the  work  of  national  disenthral- 
ment.  At  present  this  class  is  sufficiently  oppressed  to 


THE    BOURGEOISIE.  161 

aspire  for  liberty,  and  in  common  with  the  peasants  to 
find  their  actual  state  unbearable.  Without  being  nor 
mally  educated,  it  possesses  an  intuitive  perception  of  the 
necessity  of  a  change  for  the  better.  It  is  easy  to  compre 
hend  how  the  burgher  must  be  dissatisfied  with  his  actual 
position.  True  it  is,  that  oppression  protracted  for  cen 
turies  is  eventually  transformed  into  a  chronic  disease,  to 
which  the  organism  ultimately  gets  accustomed.  It  is  like 
an  excrescence  on  the  body,  which,  though  borne  for  a 
long  time  with  patience,  finally  becomes  painful,  and  the  or 
ganism  and  the  individual  consequently  tries  to  extirpate 
or  to  get  rid  of  it. 

The  wealth  of  the  burghers  increases  continually,  and 
at  the  same  time  their  consciousness  of  oppression.  The 
more  actively  they  move  in  their  special  and  contracted 
arena,  the  oftener  they  are  hurt  by  running  against  the 
iron  fence.  Thus  the  elements  of  discontent  accumulate, 
which  must  finally  explode. 

In  their  domestic  mode  of  life,  the  bourgeoisie  cherish 
all  old  national  traditions,  clinging  to  ancient  customs  and 
manners.  Few  changes  or  modifications  penetrate  to  the 
domestic  hearth.  Even  in  the  dress  of  both  sexes,  the 
woman  with  her  sarafan,  a  kind  of  long  gown,  and  the  men 
with  their  kaftan,  a  long,  broad  overcoat,  are  still  to  be 
seen  amongst  the  wealthiest.  The  girls  until  marriage 
wear  their  hair  in  long  tresses,  cutting  them  off  at 
the  wedding-day ;  an  ancient  bridal  ceremony  prevailing 
through  every  class  of  the  people,  and  accompanied  by 
moving  farewell  songs  addressed  to  the  bride  by  her  for 
mer  companions. 

The  men  wear  a  beard,  an  ancient  and  still  maintained 
national  fashion.  The  great  luxury  in  which  the  burgh 
ers  rejoice  is  the  possession  of  rich  brocade,  jewelry, 
pearls,  and  precious  stones  for  the  use  of  the  women,  and 


162  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

to  adorn  the  holy  images  suspended  in  their  dwellings,  in 
their  counting-rooms  and  shops,  as  well  as  in  the  display 
of  rich,  heavy  silver  plate. 

It  was  mentioned  in  one  of  the  foregoing  chapters  that 
the  clergy  of  both  kinds  live  on  the  most  intimate  footing 
with  the  burghers,  and  the  reasons  and  the  nature  of  its 
influence  over  burghers  and  peasants  have  been  explained. 

One  of  the  characteristics  of  the  bourgeoisie  is  the 
esprit  de  corps  that  animates  it  more  intensely  than  in  the 
nobility,  and  for  obvious  reasons.  Excluded  generally 
from  the  public  service,  the  burgher  has  no  favors  to  ask 
of  the  government,  who,  on  account  of  the  wealth  possessed 
by  this  class,  must,  after  all,  be  on  good  terms  with  it. 
Accustomed  as  the  bourgeoisie  is  to  extortions,  still  when 
sometimes  the  measure  is  overdone,  and  a  member  is  too 
deeply  wronged  and  ill-treate<J,  the  corporations  of  cities, 
as  Moscow,  Petersburg,  etc.,  will  rise  on  his  behalf,  and 
oblige  the  government,  or  the  men  in  power,  to  come  to 
terms.  The  nobility,  as  a  body,  can  never  make  such  a 
demonstration  of  independence. 

The  bourgeoisie,  the  population  of  cities,  are  very  sen 
sible  to  national  glory ;  not  only  to  that  won  on  battle 
fields,  but  to  that  purer  and  loftier  one,  acquired  by  the 
higher  order  of  accomplishments  of  the  mind.  If  the 
bourgeoisie,  the  people,  are  forcibly  excluded  from  contri 
buting  to  literary  distinction,  they  render  nevertheless  a 
most  hearty  homage  to  individuals  and  names  ranking 
tigh  as  such.  It  has  already  been  mentioned  with  what 
deference  the  people  treat  the  various  professors.  Pousch- 
kine,  the  great  poet,  was  popular  and  beloved  by  the  burgh 
ers  equally  as  much,  and  perhaps  more  than  any  other  man 
would  have  been  who  had  become  eminent  through  mili 
tary  renown.  When  he  was  killed  in  a  duel  by  the  hand 
of  a  French  adventurer,  in  consequence  of  a  shameless 


THE    BOURGEOISIE.  163 

scandal  perpetrated  by  the  court  and  courtiers  ,  his 

death,  as  a  national  calamity,  was  mourned  by  the  whole 
city  population,  more  perhaps  than  even  by  some  of  the 
higher  classes.  In  Petersburg,  where  the  bloody  event 
took  place,  the  popular  exasperation  was  such  that  the 
hackdrivers  refused  to  attend  any  individual  in  whose  pro 
nunciation  they  could  detect  a  foreign  accent.  Without 
the  interference  of  the  police  it  would  have  been  worse. 
To  avoid  a  demonstration,  the  body  of  the  poet  was  sent 
out  at  night,  as  quietly  and  secretly  as  possible,  to  the 
country,  to  his  family  burial-place.  If  this  tragical  event 
with  its  aggravating  circumstances  had  occurred  in  Mos 
cow,  the  signs  of  grief  would  have  been  more  violent,  more 
dangerous  for  the  public  tranquillity,  for  the  court,  and 
even  for  the  Czar. 

Whatever  may  be  his  love  of  making  money,  the  Rus 
sian  bourgeois,  rich  merchant  or  poor  shopkeeper  as  he 
may  be,  is  not  generally  so  debased  as  the  corresponding 
class  in  other  European  countries,  ready  to  sacrifice  lib 
erty,  and  often  even  fatherland,  for  the  sake  of  saving  the 
business  or  the  shop.  No  such  narrow  egotism  is  to  be 
found  among  the  trading  classes  of  Russia.  In  case  of 
hostile  invasion  they  would  not  hesitate  for  a  moment  to 
destroy  houses  and  goods  rather  than  to  see  them  pass  into 
the  hands  of  enemies.  The  drama  of  Moscow,  in  1812, 
would  be  cheerfully  repeated  throughout  the  whole  coun 
try,  and  every  city  would  be  turned  into  ashes  by  the  act 
of  her  own  inhabitants.  The  same  devotion  will  inspire 
them  when  the  hour  of  disenthralment  shall  be  pointed 
out  on  the  dial  of  time,  when  the  mysterious  sound  of  the. 
belfry  of  the  ancient  wietsowoi  kolokol  shall  clang  again, 
rousing  the  people,  and  calling  it  together  at  the  national 
forum  to  fight  out  the  battle  of  freedom.  No  bourgeois 
will  shun  the  sacred  combat,  but  will  dash  into  it.  Al- 


164  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

though  never  initiated  into  the  conspiracy  of  1825,  the 
population  of  Petersburg  rallied  in  great  numbers,  and 
if  the  conspirators  had  acted  promptly,  popular  sup 
port  would  not  have  been  wanting.  And  the  population 
of  Petersburg  has  more  of  the  shopkeeper  spirit  than  any 
other  Russian  city — its  only  tradition  is  servitude.  The 
genuine  Russian  cities  have  old  traditions  of  the  forum 
called  wietse  or  wietsche.  In  the  ancient  republics  of  Nov 
gorod  and  Pskoff.  as  well  as  in  other  cities,  the  burgher 
was  accustomed  to  he'ar  the  belfry  send  forth  its  summons 
to  shut  up  his  shop,  to  appear  for  deliberation,  or  armed 
with  the  axe  and  the  pike  prepare  for  defence.  The  pow 
erful  chime  of  the  national  kolokol  is  now  hushed  by  des 
potism,  but  the  tradition  still  clangs  through  the  memory 
of  the  people  as  lively  as  ever.  It  may  be  mentioned 
here  that  the  use  of  bells  was  introduced  into  Russia  from 
Byzantium  at  a  very  early  period,  and  very  likely  the  bel 
fry  of  Novgorod  was  older  than  those  which  roused  the 
communes  of  the  western  world,  not  excepting  even  Italy 
and  Spain.  Once  again  the  kolokol  will  shake  the  air,  and 
the  Russian  burgher  will  break  the  manacles  from  his 
hands. 

We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  Czarism  has  lost  its  hold 
over  the  national  feelings,  and  become  generally  less  popu 
lar  with  the  burghers.  Unhappily  it  is  not  yet  so.  Its 
historical  roots  are  loosened,  but  still  hold  on.  Decay, 
however,  has  commenced,  or  is  at  hand.  The  burgher 
and  the  people  were  wont  to  consider  Czarism  as  their 
lifegiving  sun,  as  a  shield  against  the  nobility.  Czarism 
was  never  really  such  an  aegis,  but  oppressing  all,  it  made 
the  people  believe  that  it  served  to  check  the  noblesse. 
But  now  the  burgher  begins  to  see  through  all  this,  and 
and  to  know  better.  He  has  discovered  that  Czarism  is 
principally  propped  up  by  the  nobles,  and  for  their  sake 


THE   BOURGEOISIE.  165 

curtails  the  rights  of  the  people  and  the  bourgeoisie.  The 
ukases  published  during  the  last  fifteen  years  have  con 
tributed  to  disperse  the  mist.  Czarism,  through  the  un 
avoidable  pressure  of  events,  must  daily  become  more  re 
strictive,  tightening  the  knot  more  and  more,  and  in  the 
same  proportion  the  fascination  exercised  over  the  feelings 
of  the  nation  will  die  out  and  vanish. 

The  official  legal  relations  between  the  nobility  and 
the  bourgeoisie  have  been  explained.  The  one  oppresses 
the  other  in  a  twofold  way ;  as  the  "privileged  class,  and 
as  exclusive  office  holder.  The  two  classes  never  associ 
ate,  less  even  in  private  and  social,  than  in  public  or  offi 
cial  life.  A  broad  chasm  separates  them.  Only  the  very 
numerous  class  of  lower  officials  is  in  social  intercourse 
with  the  burghers,  and  even  this  seldom  on  an  intimate  foot 
ing,  but  at  feasts  and  ostentatious  entertainments. 

In  general  the  bourgeoisie  hate  and  rather  despise  the 
nobility  than  envy  it.  It  seems  that  if  the  bourgeoisie 
felt  the  consciousness  of  their  strengh  and  future.  Contrary 
to  the  habits  of  the  bourgeoisie  of  all  other  countries,  the 
Russian  does  not  run,  seek  after  and  covet  acquaintance, 
intimacy  and  close  family  connection  with  the  nobility. 
This  occurs  seldom  and  is  rather  exceptional.  The  bour-' 
geoisie  holds  itself  aloof,  and  is  calm  and  rather  menacing 
than  fidgety,  humble  and  insinuating.  It  does  not  struggle 
for  admission  into  the  ranks  which,  sooner  or  later,  must 
disappear  before  the  popular  pressure. 

In  the  same  way  as  the  body  of  the  Russian  bour 
geoisie  never  aspire  for  nobiliar  distinctions,  it  has  not 
the  leanings  of  what  is  called  the  tiers-Mat  middle  class, 
whose  character  has  revealed  itself  in  the  political  conflicts 
of  modern  times.  The  Russian  bourgeoisie  has  not 
the  purse-proud  and  egotistical  demeanor,  nor  the  shop 
keeper  meanness  to  be  found  elsewhere.  If  it  forms 


166  RUSSIA    AS    IT    r«. 

legally  a  distinct  class  from  the  people  below  it,  it  is 
rather  forced  into  th-is  position,  and  has  not  taken  it  by 
free  choice.  The  legal  denomination  of  burgher  or  mer 
chant  Kupets  is  imposed  by  law.  By  choice  they  prefer 
the  denomination  of  grajdanin  citizen,  which  is  general 
and  not  specific,  applicable  to  the  nobleman  as  to  the  pea 
sant. 

Never  a  toady  to  the  nobility,  the  Russian  bourgeoisie 
differs  likewise  from  this  class  in  other  nations,  in  its  be 
havior  towards  the  peasants  and  the  people.  Through 
out  almost  the  whole  of  Europe  there  prevails  a  strongly 
marked  antagonism  between  the  city  and  the  country,  be 
tween  the  bourgeois  and  the  peasantry.  Every  where  the 
bourgeois  has  used,  and  uses  the  people  as  a  stepping-stone 
to  swing  himself  into  the  higher  regions  of  privilege.  As 
capitalists,  speculators,  manufacturers  or  land  owners,  they 
are  as  oppressive  as  ever  the  nobility  could  be.  In  pro 
portion  as  their  wealth  and  respectability  increase,  their 
first  effort  is  to  brush  off  all  signs  of  connection  with  the 
people,  or  at  least  to  conceal  them.  They  try  to  appear 
different  from  those  among  whom  they  started,  and  to  ape 
as  much  as  possible  those  toward  whom  they  approach. 
And  such  parvenus  in  Europe,  look  down  on  the  peasant 
with  as  much  contempt  as  could  a  silly  nobleman.  There 
exists  no  connection,  no  similitude  between  the  burgher, 
the  workman,  and  the  peasant,  either  in  customs,  man 
ners,  mode  of  life,  external  appearance  of  dress  or  in  any 
other  characteristic.  A  large  gap  separates  them  entirely. 
But  not  so  in  Russia.  Here  the  two  classes  forming  the 
real  nation  resemble  each  other,  in  all  wherein  they  are 
so  different  in  other  countries.  Rich  and  poor,  burghers, 
workmen  and  peasants  use  the  same  mode  of  life,  observe 
the  same  old  national  manners,  customs  and  usages.  The 
dishes  at  their  meals  are  nearly  alike,  as  are  the  dress  of 


THE    BOURGEOISIE.  167 

both  sexes  and  their  external  deportment.  Exceptions  are 
rare  and  on  the  whole  insignificant.  The  distinction  in  dress 
is  not  in  cut  or  fashion,  but  in  the  quality  of  the  material. 
Socially,  both  burghers  and  peasants  groan  under  the  same 
oppression,  which  strengthens  the  existing  ties  of  nationality. 
Both  entertain  a  common  hatred  against  the  nobility,  or 
at  least  are  inspired  with  an  insurmountable  mistrust  in 
it.  The  relations  between  burgher  and  peasant  are  on 
the  most  intimate  and  cordial  footing.  They  address  each 
other  by  the  Christian  name,  without  adding  the  intitula- 
tion  of  Sir  or  Master.  Generally  it  is  customary  throughout 
all  classes  of  Russian  society  to  address  in  the  same  way. 
For  example,  Nicolai  Pawlowitsch  Nicolas  Paul's  son,  the 
termination  witsch  giving  the  last  signification.  Even 
the  Emperor  in  the  course  of  a  conversation  could  be  ad 
dressed  in  this  manner  without  any  offence.  When  the 
lower  classes  speak  to  one  above  them,  they  add  to  it  the 
title  of  birth  or  of  office,  but  more  generally  the  name  of 
father,  baltiuschkay  otets. 

The  law  prohibiting  burghers  to  own  serfs,  eminently 
cements  the  good  understanding  which  exists  between  the 
burgher  and  the  peasant.  Disabled  from  following  in  the 
track  of  the  nobility,  from  becoming  a  master  and  oppres 
sor  of  the  peasant,  the  bourgeois  is  preserved  from  falling 
into  the  common  sin  of  the  parvenu,  and  so  they  remain 
on  good  terms. 

Moscow  ranks  foremost  among  all  the  cities  exercising 
a  powerful  influence  over  the  rural  populations.  Not 
through  the  nobility  established  there,  but  through  the 
burghersr  and  thus  Moscow  is  in  every  respect  the  heart 
of  Russia.  Along  the  Wolga  extend  the  best  parts  of  the 
empire,  and  their  inhabitants  are  the  most  active,  intelli 
gent,  enterprising  The  locality  of  Moscow,  distant  some 


168  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

way  from  this  river,  is  still,  however,  in  its  line.  The 
city  is,  in  the  feelings  of  the  people,  the  mother,  the  white, 
the  brilliant,  swietlaia  bielaia  matuschka.  Moscow  has 
her  own  traditions  of  good  and  evil,  traditions  historical, 
and  deeply  intertwined  with  the  existence  of  the  nation. 
Moscow  has  a  genuine  population  of  her  own,  whereas 
Petersburg  has  no  tradition  except  the  will  of  despotism, 
and  a  population  accidentally  agglomerated  with  an  im 
mense  military  force,  and  swarms  of  officials,  clerks,  etc. 
Moscow  is  the  centre  of  internal  trade  and  industry,  as  the 
principal  manufactories  are  established  there.  The  coun 
try  around  Moscow  is  the  most  densely  populated,  the  peas 
ants,  free  or  serfs,  are  the  wealthiest,  and  are  in  their  turn 
artisans,  traders,  and  even  manufacturers,  and  thus  in  a 
continual  and  intimate  intercourse  with  the  inhabitants  of 
the  capital.  Every  pulsation  of  Moscow  acts  intensely 
on  the  surrounding  villages  and  districts,  and  extends 
itself  in  wider  and  wider  circles.  The  population  of  Mos 
cow  is  spirited,  and  breathes  its  spirit  into  the  country. 
This  spirit  contains  to-day  indiscernible  elements  which 
may  soon  transform  themselves  into  tornadoes.  Moscow 
has  impulses  of  independence,  and  shows  them  from  time 
to  time,  if  not  as  yet  by  explosions,  certainly  by  grum 
blings  which  startle  at  times  Czarism  in  its  fastnesses  of 
Petersburg.  For  this  reason  the  emperors  always  try  to 
be  on  good  terms  with  the  population  of  Moscow,  pam 
pering  it  during  their  visits  to  this  second  capital,  haughty 
as  is  their  bearing  with  the  other  classes. 

The  burghers  form  with  the  peasants  a  dense  unit 
through  the  whole  empire,  whatever  may  be  the  artificial 
classifications  dividing  them.  This  mass  is  opposed  and 
averse  to  nobility.  Thus  the  Russian  burgher  is  not  a 
middle  class  uniting  two  extremes.  He  belongs  wholly  to 


THE    BOURGEOISIE.  169 

the  people,  to  its  holy  cause.  One  cannot  err  in  asserting 
that  in  any  future  attempts  or  struggles  for  regeneration, 
the  Russian  bourgeoisie  will  stand  foremost,  strengthening 
and  not  palsying  the  efforts  for  a  large  and  radical  eman 
cipation. 

8 


170  RUSSIA  AS   IT   IS. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE  COSSACKS. 

THE  population  of  the  Cossacks  once  formed  an  indepen 
dent  sovereignty,  parts  of  them,  as  for  example,  those  of 
Little  Russia,  recognizing  ever  since  the  XVIth  century, 
the  Polish  Republic  and  her  king  as  lord  paramount.  In 
their  organization,  at  the  commencement  exclusively  mili 
tary,  the  principle  of  equality  absolutely  prevailed.  As 
their  power  extended,  that  is,  when  they  spread  over  the 
lands  surrounding  their  primitive  cradle  and  at  that  time 
not  subjected  to  any  special  dominion — lands  known  now 
as  Little  Russia,  they  were  ruled  by  free  institutions.  At 
the  present  day  they  form  still  an  exceptional  population, 
and  however  deprived  of  ancient  freedom,  their  position 
is  far  above  that  of  the  free  peasantry. 

The  positive  origin  of  the  Cossacks  dates,  according 
to  all  probability,  from  the  time  when  southern  Russia 
was  overflowed  with  Tartars,  in  the  Xlllth  century,  when 
the  capital  was  transferred  from  Kiieff  farther  north,  and 
the  greatest  part  of  Little  Russia  abandoned  to  her  fate. 
It  may  be  perchance,  however,  that  previous  to  that  epoch, 
even  centuries  before  it  indeed,  in  these  extensive  and 
unsettled  regions,  the  highway  of  the  inroads  of  Asiatic 
tribes,  bands  made  up  of  all  kinds  of  runaways,  existed 


THE    COSSACKS.  171 

for  self-defe-  co  and  robbery,  over  which  the  power  of 
the  Grand  Dukes  of  Kiieff  could  not  really  extend.  Not 
withstanding  that  the  Cossacks  of  the  Dnieper  alone  have 
a  positive  historical  existence,  it  is  most  probable  that  the 
other  separate  bands  were  formed  on  the  Don,  along  the 
frontiers  of  the  region  held  by  the  Tartars,  on  the  Wolga, 
then  crossing  afterwards  to  Asia,  formed  there  the  Cos 
sacks  of  the  Ural,  and  afterwards  those  of  Siberia.  The 
resistance  to  the  Tartars  was  their  principal  aim,  and 
this  justifies  the  assumption  that  they  have  been  formed 
every  where  from  the  aboriginal,  or  Slavic  and  Christian 
population.  Those  of  the  Dnieper  or  of  Little  Russia 
recognized,  as  was  already  mentioned,  the  protectorate  of 
Poland ;  those  of  more  distant  regions  fell  under  the  do 
minion  of  Russia,  after  she  had  broken  down  the  Tartar 
supremacy.  All  of  them  being,  originally,  rather  wander 
ing,  restless  bands  of  horsemen,  this  fact  excluded  mar 
riage  in  their  primitive  organization  ;  they  recruited  them 
selves  from  among  fugitives,  outlaws  and  vagabonds  of  all 
kinds.  When  they  grew  stronger,  and  their  natural  ene 
mies,  the  Tartars  weaker,  when  they  began  to  possess 
power  and  dominion  over  the  lands  and  regions,  where 
previously  they  roved  only,  then  they  mixed  with  the  popu 
lation  and  introduced  among  themselves  marriage  and  the 
other  results  of  a  more  settled  life.  Still  for  a  long  time 
•afterwards,  however,  celibacy  was  regarded  as  a  virtue  in 
a  perfect  Cossack  hero,  since  his  calling  was  an  uninter 
rupted  warfare — and  thus  no  other  softer  ties  ought  to 
obtain  possession  of  the  heart,  or  the  mind  of  a  true  Cos 
sack.  A  kind  of  chivalrous  love  consequently  runs  through 
the  ancient  popular  songs  of  these  regions.  The  Cossacks 
of  Little  Russia  or  of  the  Dnieper  became  very  powerful ; 
extended  their  inroads  and  depredations  by  descending 
the  river  in  their  small  flat  boats  and  entering  the  Euxine, 


172  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

they  ravaged  the  Turkish  shores.  The  fires  of  their  incur 
sions  could  often  have  been  seen  from  the  Sultan's  seraglio, 
since  they  sometimes  even  burnt  the  suburbs  of  Constan 
tinople.  To  fortify  themselves  against  the  Padishah's  re 
venge,  they  submitted  to  the  protectorate  of  Poland,  then 
the  sole  great  power  not  only  among  the  Slavic  race,  but  in 
the  whole  of  Europe,  which  was  continually  victorious  over 
the  Turks.  They  were  very  devoted  to  Poland,  and  form 
ed  one  of  the  sinews  of  her  strength,  principally  in  the  de 
fence  of  the  southern  frontiers.  In  the  beginning  of  the 
XVIIth  century  the  Cossacks  eminently  contributed  to 
establish  the  brief  dominion  of  Poland  over  Russia. 
They  were,  however,  devoted  to  the  Slavic  or  Graeco- 
Eastern  Church,  and  when  the  Jesuits  crept  into  Poland, 
becoming  in  a  very  short  time  influential  over  the  national 
spirit  and  counsels,  a  religious  persecution  began  to  be 
directed  against  the  devoted  Cossacks,  which  alienated 
them  from  their  protectors.  In  the  first  half  of  the 
XVIIth  century,  Wladislas  Waza,  the  last  Polish  king, 
of  eminent  statesmanlike  qualities,  who,  wishing  to  curb 
the  reckless  spirit  of  the  Polish  nobility  by  the  rule  of 
law  and  of  discipline,  made  a  secret  treaty  with  Bogdan 
Chmielnicki  the  Attaman  or  chief  of  the  Cossacks  of  Little 
Russia ;  in  virtue  of  which  the  Cossacks  were  to  support 
the  king  in  his  projects,  and  the  Attaman  was  to  become  a 
Waievode  of  Kii'eff,  and  thus  have  a  permanent  seat  in  the 
Polish  upper  house  or  the  Senate,  and  the  Greek  or  rather 
Slavic  bishops  were  likewise  to  be  put  on  equal  footing 
with  the  Catholics,  and  have  a  place  among  the  Polish  and 
Roman  Catholic  bishops  and  senators.  But  the  king  died 
before  the  execution  of  this  scheme,  and  the  wrath  of  the 
nobility  and  of  the  Jesuits  together  turned  against  the 
unhappy  Cossacks.  A  bloody  war  began,  almost  a  war  of 
extermination.  Chmielnicki,  often  victorious,  demanded 


THE    COSSACKS.  173 

only  from  Poland  the  confirmation  of  what  had  been  pro 
mised  and  granted  to  him  by  the  deceased  King  Wladis- 
las.  But  vainly  he  tried  to  settle  the  struggle  in  a  pacific 
manner ;  finally  he  invoked  the  assistance  of  Russia,  by 
recognizing  her  protectorate,  and  the  Cossacks  opened  the 
doors  of  Poland  to  the  invasion  of  Ragotsy  with  his 
swarms  of  Magyars,  Wallachians,  and  Transylvanians. 
Poland  on  the  north  was  submerged  by  the  Swedes,  in 
consequence  of  a  war  likewise  resulting  from  the  instiga 
tion  of  the  Jesuits  and  of  their  ally  the  house  of  Austria ; 
— and  the  victorious  Ragotsy  at  that  epoch — the  second 
half  of  the  XVIIth  century — projected  its  partition.  The 
hostilities  with  the  Cossacks,  the  unyielding  and  unrelent 
ing  spirit  of  religious  persecution,  had  already  brought 
Poland  to  the  verge  of  destruction.  After  the  death  of 
the  Attaman  Chmielnicki,  part  of  the  Cossacks  under  his 
son  submitted  to  Russia;  the  other  part  remained  still 
faithful  to  the  Polish  republic.  The  war  was  continued 
with  unabated  fury.  Sobieski,  King  of  Poland,  abandoned 
by  a  treaty  to  Russia,  the  left  bank  of  the  Dnieper,  toge 
ther  with  the  palatinate  and  the  city  of  Kiieff  and  several 
other  places.  It  was  the  first  time  since  -her  historical 
existence  that  Poland  had  lost  ground  before  Russia. 
The  right  bank  of  the  Dnieper,  with  the  remains  of  the 
Cossacks  and  the  population  of  the  Slavic  creed  settled 
there,  became  a  prey  to  the  persecuting  fury  of  the  Jesu 
its  and  the  nobility.  Instead  of  their  ancient  devotion, 
deep  hatred  filled  the  minds  and  the  hearts  of  the  inhabit 
ants  of  Little  Russia.  Sobieski's  reign  was  distinguished 
by  cruel  and  refined  executions. 

The  nobility  and  clergy  raged  amongst  the  populations, 
and  the  house  of  the  Polish  noble  Potocki,  the  most  pow 
erful  in  those  desolate  regions,  distinguished  itself  by  its 
unrelenting  ferocity.  In  the  portion  which  had  submitted 


174  BUSSIA    AS    IT    IS, 

V 

to  Russia,  the  Attaman  Mazeppa  in  the  beginning  of  the 
XVIIIth  century,  aimed  at  reconquering  its  ancient  inde 
pendence  with  the  aid  of  Charles  XII.  of  Sweden,  and 
that  of  Stanislas  Leschtschynski,  momentarily  king  of 
Poland.  Mazeppa's  project  was  to  reunite  the  whole  of 
Little  Russia,  and  erect  there  a  wholly  independent  king 
dom.  He  fell ;  and  with  him  the  dreams  of  independence 
were  extinguished  in  blood.  Peter  I.  transplanted  great 
numbers  of  the  Cossacks,  partisans  of  Mazeppa,  to  the  Don, 
and  generally  curtailed  their  ancient  liberties.  The  liber 
ties  of  the  Cossacks  remaining  under  the  Polish  dominion 
were  almost  wholly  destroyed.  For  the  most  part  they 
became  the  enslaved  property  of  the  Polish  nobility — their 
religion'  was  trampled  down,  the  priest  (the  pop]  became 
subordinate  to  the  Jew — the  overseer,  attorney,  alter  ego, 
of  a  Polish  nobleman.  Partial  insurrections  broke  out, 
and  the  most  bloody  was  that  known  as  the  one  of  Human, 
a  place  belonging  to  the  Potockis.  The  infuriated  people 
murdered  nobles,  Jews,  and  Catholic  priests.  Generally 
they  hanged  them  together  on  the  same  tree,  adding  a  dog 
for  company.  It  was  a  terrible  revenge  for  old,  unmerited 
sufferings — Catharine,  Empress  of  Russia,  interfered — 
and  shortly  after,  through  the  partition  of  Poland,  these 
regions  came  under  the  power  of  Russia.  A  very  small 
part  of  the  Cossacks,  in  dread  of  Russian  despotism,  fled 
to  Turkey.  Catharine  put  an  end  to  the  independent  se 
parate  Cossack  organization  of  Little  Russia,  transferring 
portions  of  its  population  to  the  Don,  others  to  the  shores 
of  the  Black  Sea. 

In  concluding  this  sketch,  it  must  be  observed  that  one 
of  the  principal  reasons  of  the  downfall  of  Poland  was  the 
hostility,  the  alienation  and  the  separation  of  Little  Russia 
and  the  Cossacks — and  of  this  the  Polish  nobility  and  the 
influence  of  the  Jesuits  were  the  principal,  or  rather  the 
exclusive  workers. 


THE   COSSACKS.  175 

Of  these  Cossacks,  who  thus  filled  some  pages  in  his-' 
tory,  there  now  exist  only  the  bare  recollections  in  those 
regions  where  once  they  acted  and  ruled  ;  ruins  of  past 
glory,  freedom,  and  times  gone  for  ever.  These  remnants 
of  the  Cossacks  in  Little  Russia  still  preserve  some  privi 
leges,  elevating  them  above  the  class  of  free  peasants. 
The  Cossacks  of  the  Don  still  form  a  distinct  national 
body,  and  the  quite  considerable  territory  inhabited  by 
them,  makes  a  separate  province.  They  are  the  most  com 
pletely  organized,  the  most  numerous,  and  furnish  the 
greatest  number  of  armed  men,  as  has  been  already  men 
tioned  in  the  chapter  concerning  the  army.  The  land  in 
habited  by  them  is  reckoned  among  the  best  and  most 
fertile  in  Russia.  Such  is  likewise  that  once  belonging 
to  the  Cossacks  of  Little  Russia,  as  the  governments, 
Pultawa,  Tt-chernigoff,  the  Ukraine,  etc.,  consisting  of 
alluvial  soil  several  feet  in  depth,  and  covered  with  the 
most  luxuriant  and  productive  vegetation.  The  Cossacks 
of  the  Ural,  and  those  of  the  Black  Sea,  the  Tschernom- 
ortsy.  Lave  likewise  separate  organizations  and  territories 
of  great  agricultural  value.  The  Ural  Cossacks,  formerly 
called  Yaick,  keep  vast  flocks  of  sheep,  and  one  of  the 
principal  sources  of  their  revenue  is  the  almost  exclusive 
right  of  taking,  in  the  Ural,  a  peculiar  kind  of  sturgeon, 
whose  spawn  forms  a  delicacy  called  Caviar,  greatly  ap 
preciated  in  the  whole  empire,  and  throughout  northern 
Europe. 

As  was  already  mentioned,  there  prevailed  in  the  an 
cient  organization  of  the  Cossacks  the  principle  of  equality. 
All  the  offices  were  elective,  and  that  of  the  chiefs,  the 
Attaman,  amongst  the  rest.  At  his  election  they  formed 
themselves  into  a  ring  and  threw  their  caps  at  the  favorite ; 
whoever  was  the  most  covered  by  them  was  elected.  The 
Cossacks  of  the  Don  still  elect  their  judiciary,  civil  and 


176  RUSSIA   AS  IT   IS. 

military  administrative  officers,  but  they  no  longer  elect 
their  Attaman.  This  dignity  is  now  vested  in  the  person 
of  the  her/editary  prince  of  the  empire.  A  daring  udaloi 
Cossack  has  no  longer  the  chance  of  becoming  the  Attaman 
as  referred  to  in  their  old  proverb:  '•'•Suffer  Cossack,  and 
thou  shalt  become  ttie  Attaman." 

In  the  course  of  the  last  twenty  years,  the  Cossacks 
generally,  and  principally  those  of  the  Don,  have  under 
gone  a  change.  They  have  lost  still  more  of  their  ancient 
liberties,  and  in  their  new  and  very  restrictive  organization 
they  have  become  more  subjugated  to  the  power  of  the 
Czar,  and  depend  wholly  upon  the  minister  of  war.  But 
old  recollections  are  not  dead  in  the  hearts  of  the  bulk  of 
the  Cossack  population — they  still  linger  there  most  viv 
idly.  In  the  wealthiest  portion,  counting  among  the  aris 
tocracy  of  the  empire,  the  sham  honors  distributed  by 
Czarism  have  dried  up  and  blotted  out  the  feelings  and 
the  remembrance  of  the  liberty  of  old.  But  the  mass  en 
dure  the  present  oppression  with  curses,  and  are  thus  dis 
contented  and  dissatisfied.  Not,  however,  as  many  ill-in 
formed  writers  maintain^  that  there  exists  any  tendency 
or  wish  to  detach  themselves  and  become  independent  of 
Russia ; — their  aspirations  are  directed  towards  the  recov 
ering  of  ancient  internal  liberty.  This  work  will  be  done 
when  once  the  whole  Russian  people  rise  in  self-defence 
against  despotism  and  oppression. 

Since  the  destruction  of  the  schemes  of  Mazeppa  and 
of  the  independence  of  the  Cossacks  of  Little  Russia  by 
Peter  and  Catharine,  the  most  wealthy  and  prominent 
families  have  entered  into  the  imperial,  civil  and  military 
service  obtaining  eminent  distinction.  Thus  the  Kotsch- 
ubeys,  Runiantzoff,  Bestuscheff,  Worontzoff,  Daschkoff 
Murawioff  and  many  others. 

The  intellectual  powers  of  the  inhabitants  of  Little 


THE    COSSACKS.  177 

Russia  have  generally  in  them  a  something  of  southern 
character — rather  perhaps  tending  toward  laziness,  but 
when  once  awake  and  stirred  up,  they  prove  more  quick 
and  elastic  than  northern  men.  The  men  of  Little 
Russia  are  found  in  the  different  governmental  and 
administrative  branches,  often  exciting  the  grumbling  of 
the  old  Russian  against  those  whom  he  believes  to  be  in 
truders.  It  is  nearly  the  same  as  it  is  in  England,  when 
in  London  the  old  English  John  is  superseded  by  the 
harder-working,  canny,  and  more  business-like  Scot. 

The  immunities  accorded  by  law  to  the  mediatized 
Cossacks  are  the  following  : 

Lands  inherited  by  them  directly  from  their  Cossack 
ancestry  remain  for  ever  their  individual  property.  They 
are  obliged  only  to  perform  certain  servitudes  which  bur 
den  such  lands.  Such  property  can  only  be  sold  to  a  Cos 
sack,  never  to  any  body  else. 

If  a  Cossack  acquires  any  free  lands,  he  can  sell,  bar 
ter  and  dispose  of  them,  according  to  his  pleasure  by  ob 
serving  the  requisitions  of  the  general  law.  Cossacks 
alone  possess  the  privilege  of  selling  liquors  in  their 
houses.  No  governmental  monopoly  can  be  introduced 
in  the  Cossack  lands  and  territories.  Each  male  pays 
a  tax  amounting  to  two  dollars.  They  fulfil  military 
service.  In  civil  suits  among  themselves  they  enjoy  cer 
tain  privileges  of  a  special  court  retained  from  olden  time. 
In  criminal  matters  they  are  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
common  criminal  tribunals.  If  condemned  to  Siberia,  or 
by  a  verdict  given  up  to  the  government  for  detention  in 
penitentiary  establishments,  or  to  become  common  soldiers, 
they  lose  for  ever  those  privileges  which  distinguish  £he 
Cossacks. 

They  can  enter  the  communities  of  free  peasants,  sell 
ing,  however,  previously  their  Cossack  property  to  one  of 
8* 


178  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

the  same  class.  They  can  become  teachers,  schoolmasters, 
and  under  certain  conditions,  enter  public  gymnasia  and 
universities,  losing  by  it,  however,  the  privileges  of  Cos 
sacks. 

A  recent  ukase  reduces  to  nothing  this  possibility  of 
a  higher  education  for  the  Cossacks  as  well  for  burghers 
and  the  other  lower  classes. 

The  military  Cossacks  (such  is  now  the  generic  legal 
denomination  of  all  the  Cossacks)  of  the  Don  elect  among 
themselves  officials  for  military  functions,  which  are  to 
be  fulfilled  in  the  district,  the  community  or  township,  in 
the  village  called  Stannitsa. 

The  superior  members*  of  the  military  board,  of  the 
military  civil  or  criminal  tribunal  are  elecfed  exclusively 
by  the  military  corporation. 

All  the  officials  for  every  other  branch  of  internal  ad 
ministration,  of  districts  and  communes,  for  the  internal 
police,  the  treasurers  and  the  tax-gatherers,  are  elected 
by  the  civil  corporation,  which  includes  those  not  imme 
diately  inscribed  on  the  military  rolls. 

Inferior  functionaries,  as  the  heads  or  elders  in  a  vil 
lage,  the  Attaman  of  a  Stannitsa,  are  elected  by  the  spe 
cial  communities,  as  well  as  their  decurions  and  centurions, 
overseers  of  the  studs,  etc. 

The  Cossacks  of  the  Don  have  their  own  gymnasia, 
academies  and  common  schools.  The  tutors  or  superin 
tendents  of  these  establishments  are  elected  from  among 
the  communities.  Each  Stannitsa  elects  members  for 
the  civil  and  criminal  tribunals  of  the  county  and  judges 
for  the  districts. 

The  Cossacks  can  own  villages  with  serfs,  and  nobody 
but  a  Cossack  can  settle  or  own  lands  in  the  Cossack 
territories. 

All  the  commanders  or  Attamans  of  each  kind  of  Cos- 


THE    COSSACKS.  179 

sacks  are  named  by  the  minister  of  war,  and  confirmed  by 
the  Czar  himself. 

There  is  a  party  of  Calmucks  called  the  army  of 
Stawropol  organized  as  Cossacks  and  having  the  same 
elective  administration. 

The  Cossacks  of  the  Black  Sea,  of  Azoff,  of  Astrachan, — 
few  in  number  and  owning  a  small  territory, — have  for  their 
administration,  boards  formed  by  election  and  called  by  the 
title  of  chancery,  Kantsellarw,  assessors,  judges  of  the 
Stannitsa ;  likewise  the  more  numerous  Cossacks  of  Ural. 
Generally  all  other  Cossacks,  as  those  of  Orenbourg,  those 
on  the  frontier  of  China,  have  a  similar  organization.  The 
Cossacks  spread  over  Siberia  are  settled  in*  boroughs, 
where  they  elect  the  elders  and  the  whole  borough  ad 
ministration. 

The  Cossacks  of  Astrachan  are  Calmucks.  Their 
elective  administration  is  composed  of  a  member  called 
Assessor  and  two  others  for  the  civil  court,  with  four  mem 
bers  for  the  spiritual  court  of  the  Llamas,  and  two  mem 
bers  for  the  court  of  each  colony  or  settlement,  called 
Utus. 


RUSSIA    AS   IT   IS. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

THE  BEAL  PEOPLE,  THE  PEASANTEY— SEKFDOM. 


-Servi  siam  'si ! 


•  Ma  servi  ogiior  trementi." 

ALFIEBI. 

THE  peasantry  form  the  broad  and  solid  basis  of  the 
whole  social  and  national  edifice.  They  are  the  everlast 
ing  fountain  of  national  life.  All  the  other  social  strata 
superposed  on  it,  issued  once  from  them,  and  in  Russia,  as 
every  where  else,  draw  continually  fresh  germs  of  life  and 
existence  from  the  mass,  from  the  people. 

The  generic  name  commonly  used  for  the  peasantry  in 
Russia,  is  that  of  Christian,  chrestianin.  The  origin  of 
it  is  very  ancient,  and  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  was  borne 
by  genuine  or  aboriginal  Russians,  in  opposition  to  the 
prisoners  of  war," the  conquered  tribes,  out  of  whom  were 
derived  principally  the  slaves,  the  serfs — all  of  whom  in 
these  distant  epochs  were  heathens. 

The  people,  or  the  peasantry,  have  preserved  the  most 
decided  and  pure  features  of  the  Slavic  character.  On  the 
shoulders  of  the  Russian  peasantry,  reposes  not  only  the 
whole  social  edifice,  but  in  its  hands  is  nearly  the  whole 
material  activity.  It  fills  the  armies,  exclusively  culti 
vates  the  soil,  furnishes  laborers  to  manufactures,  and 
artisans,  and  workingmen.  It  has  in  its  hands  nearly  the 


THE  PEASANTRY THE  SERFDOM.         181 

whole  internal  carrying  trade,  on  land  as  well  as  on  water ; 
from  the  western  frontiers  between  Poland  and  Prussia, 
down  to  Kiachta,  in  China,  and  from  Archangel  and 
St.  Petersburg  to  the  Euxine,  and  the  Persian  shores  on 
the  Caspian  Sea.  The  bulk  of  the  genuine  Russian  popu 
lation  is  split  into  several  subdivisions,  distinguished  by 
some  shadowings  in  its  idiom,  in  its  accent,  and  in  its  enun 
ciation  ;  as  well  as  by  some  mental  characteristics.  These 
principal  parts  are :  the  inhabitant  of  Great  Russia,  or  Rus 
sia  proper,  the  White  Russians,  who  during  a  long  time, 
say  about  four  centuries,  were  under  the  Polish  dominion. 
White  Russia  is  composed  of  the  governments  Witebsk, 
part  of  Smolensk,  Minsk  and  Mohyloff,  and  finally  Little 
Russia,  including  principally  the  lands  of  the  Cossacks,  and 
lands  where  once  was  the  cradle  of  the  present  Russian 
Empire.  These  are  the  lands  on  the  Dnieper,  the  govern* 
inents  Charkoff,  Kiieff,  Pultowa,  Ekaterinoslaw,  Tscherni- 
goff,  the  Ukraine,  and  to  them  may  be  added  Volynia  and 
Podolia — once  called  Red  Russia,  and  which,  like  White 
Russia,  was  for  centuries  under  Polish  dominion.  In  the 
lands  of  the  former  dominion,  the  noblemen  are  mostly 
of  the  Polish  branch,  and  generally  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
creed,  with  some  exceptions  among  the  smaller  nobility ; 
the  people  are  Russian,  and  of  the  Eastern  church.  The 
red  Russian  has  likewise  more  affinity  with  the  Russian, 
than  with  the  Polish  family.  The  white  Russian  peasant 
is  the  less  favored  by  nature,  and  the  protracted  oppres 
sion  of  an  unkind,  unfriendly  master,  has  left  deep  traces 
on  his  faculties.  His  language  is  not  the  pure  Russian, 
but  forms  in  every  respect  a  corrupt,  deteriorated,  vulgar 
idiom.  All  vitality  and  originality  seem  extinguished  in 
him.  He  is  neither  as  active  or  intelligent  as  the  gen 
uine  Russian,  and  in  manners  and  mode  of  life  is  already 
slightly  denationalized. 


182  RUSSIA    AS   IT   IS. 

As  mentioned  already,  among  the  southern,  or  Little 
Russians,  was  once  the  cradle  of  the  empire  founded  there 
by  the  Varagues  and  the  northern,  the  Novgorodian 
Russians,  until  the  time  of  the  Tartar  conquest,  and  the 
removing  of  the  capital  to  other  regions,  as  to  Wladimir, 
and  finally  to  Moscow.  In  the  lands  of  Little  Russia  along 
the  Dnieper,  the  principal  branch  of  the  Cossacks  took 
root.  In  these  regions,  the  original  national  character 
maintained  itself  pure  from  alteration,  and  more  ener 
getically  resisted  the  action  of  foreign,  Polish,  and  catholic 
dominion.  The  southern  dialect  differs  from  that  of 
Russia  proper,  but  the  shadowings  are  not  so  strongly 
expressed  as  to  form  a  deeply  penetrating  distinction ;  it  is 
perhaps  more  softened  to  the  ear,  and  has  more  of  a  poetical 
turn.  It  has  its  own  poetry,  and  a  kind  of  literature, 
and  is  still  written  by  some  amateurs.  The  people  have 
nearly  all  the  characteristics  in  common  with  those  of 
Russia  proper,  though  inferior  in  intellectual  activity ;  nor 
are  they  generally,  as  enterprising  or  industrious  as  the 
former.  In  the  greater  part  of  Little  Russia,  the  people 
still  preserve  very  lively  reminiscences  of  the  ancient 
liberty,  enjoyed  under  the  Cossack  rule.  The  oppression 
of  the  Polish  nobility,  united  to  religious  persecution,  has, 
in  some  parts,  acted  with  nearly  the  same  results  as  in 
White  Russia; — in  the  proper  lands  of  the  Cossacks 
despotism  gnawed  at  liberty,  during  the  eighteenth  cen 
tury,  until  it  finally  destroyed  it.  It  was  principally  the 
population  of  Little  Russia,  which  from  the  commencement 
of  the  Russian  empire,  between  the  eighth  and  the 
eleventh  centuries,  warred,  most  victoriously,  with  the 
emperors  of  Byzantium,  and  by  their  exploits,  even  at  that 
distant  epoch,  gave  the  name  of  a  Russian  sea  to  the 
Euxine — mare  Russicum,  as  used  by  the  old  geographers. 
The  name  of  Rus  (Russian)  belongs  principally  to  this  re- 


THE  PEASANTRY THE  SERFDOM.          183 

gion,  whence  it  was  extended  and  adopted  by  the  other 
parts  of  the  empire.  Up  to  the  present  time  the  Little 
Russian  bestows  on  the  northern  inhabitant  the  name  of  a 
Moskal  (a  Muscovite).  Still  the  greatest  affinity  exists 
between^both,  in  customs,  manners,  and  character.  Both 
have  a  strong  rythmical,  musical,  and  poetical  feeling,  and 
the  Little  Russian  is  of  the  two,  perhaps,  the  most  fond  of 
song.  In  all  other  characteristics  they  are  nearly  alike, 
and  thus  these  two  branches  of  the  great  stem  form  a  well- 
intertwined  whole. 

Great  Russia,  or  Russia  proper,  extends  from  the  fron 
tiers  of  the  government  of  Petersburg,  already  colonized 
by  the  Russians  on  the  YValdai,  along  the  Wolga  to  the 
Ural  and  the  Don  (Tanais).  It  forms  twenty-five  densely 
populated  governments.  It  is  the  true  heart  of  Russia. 

From  this  great  focus  life  pours  out,  and  activity  ra 
diates  in  all  directions.  From  these  regions  the  colonists 
and  settlers  extend  to  the  frozen  ocean,  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Amour  and  the  Northern  Pacific  shores,  and  crossing 
the  Aleutian  Islands,  already  push  their  way  into  the  north 
ern  parts  of  this  continent.  The  whole  people  of  Great,  or 
Russia  proper,  speak  the  most  pure  and  correct  language, 
which  is  no  longer  an  idiom  or  a  dialect.  It  is  not  altered 
in  the  mouth  of  the  people ;  and  as  it  pours  out  from  the 
popular  lips,  so  it  is  used  by  the  higher  and  cultivated 
classes ;  "by  the  government,  for  laws ;  and  by  poets,  litte"  • 
rateurs,  and  scientific  men,  for  their  mental  productions, 
In  one  word,  it  is  the  language  used  by  what  is  called  the 
common  people,  which  is  likewise  the  language  of  civiliza 
tion.  With  the  exception  of  the  Tuscans,  no  other  people 
or  nation  can  produce  any  thing  like  it. 

Among  the  people  of  Great  Russia  is  the  seat  of  intel 
lectual  activity,  of  national  industry;  thence  it  extends 
itself  in  all  directions ;  but  there  it  is  pre-eminently  at  home. 


184  RUSSIA   AS    IT    IS. 

There  it  divides  itself  in  several  branches,  and  for  each 
of  them  it  has  appropriated  separate  regions.  Thus  not 
only  districts  but  the  populations  of  whole  governments  are 
devoted  nearly  to  one  special  industry.  In  one,  the  car 
penters,  in  another,  the  masons,  the  weavers,  and^so  on. 
All  of  them  give  to  the  general  industry,  to  manufactures, 
to  mechanics,  and  artisans,  the  hands,  the  workmen,  who 
spread  in  cities  over  the  whole  empire.  Their  organization 
will  be  explained  hereafter,  and  how  they  are  attached  to 
special  communities,  and  through  them  to  the  soil,  and  in 
this  respect  the  same  is  true  of  the  serf  as  of  the  free  pea 
sant. 

According  to  a  very  ancient  patriarchal  custom,  the 
families  do  not  separate  continually,  in  each  generation, 
but  brothers,  uncles,  and  nephews  often  live  around  the 
same  hearth,  under  the  same  roof.  For  the  husbandry  of 
the  land,  which  the  family  holds  from  the  commune  or 
from  the  master,  and  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  task  of  ser 
vitude,  a  few  males,  sometimes  only  the  women,  remain 
the  whole  year  through  at  home.  The  males — under  legal 
conditions,  to  be  explained  by-and-by — emigrate  to  cities 
in  search  of  work  or  of  any  kind  of  enterprise.  In  this 
manner  they  spread  themselves  in  all  directions  from  one 
end  of  the  empire  to  another,  and  form  the  immense  mov 
ing,  floating  population  of  large,  and  even  smaller  cities, 
as  merchants  and  builders,  constructors,  artisans,  work 
men  in  manufactures,  either  on  their  own  account  or  as 
journeymen.  Those  who  cannot  continue  their  occupation 
during  the  winter  return  home,  to  begin  with  the  coming 
year  the  same  migration.* 

In  some  governments,  large  communities  and  villages 
are  engaged  in  manufactures,  as  spinners,  weavers,  etc. 
Among  these  there  prevails  (from  olden  times)  the  prin 
ciple  of  free  association.  It  is  the  common  chest,  the  ar 


THE    PEASANTRY THE    SERFDOM.  185 

tel  already  spoken  of  in  a  previous  chapter.  Generally, 
where  the  workmen  or  journeymen  gather  together  to  a 
common  work  of  any  nature  whatever,  they  instantly  form 
such  an  artel.  Applied  to  industry  it  animates  it,  and 
creates  a  reserve  fund  for  its  various  eventualities  and  exi 
gencies.  Each  member  (atelschtschik]  contributes  accord 
ing  to  his  means  or  the  amount  of  the  produce  of  his  labor, 
and  an  advance  in  proportion  is  made  therefrom.  Thus  the 
association  always  possesses  funds  for  cases  of  any  emer 
gency.  Time  and  experience  will  improve  this  germ, 
which,  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  hoped-for  liberty,  will  un 
fold  itself,  acquire  extension,  and  become  a  powerful  social 
engine. 

The  external  aspect  of  the  people  is  generally  rather 
serious,  even  to  solemn  formality.  But  in  reality,  under 
this  calm  exterior,  there  is  concealed  an  immense  spirit  of 
frolic,  gayety,  and  wit.  The  old,  popular  national  dance, 
accompanied  by  an  appropriate  song,  is  a  perfect  dramatic 
action.  It  is  not  inferior  to  the  most  celebrated  dance  of 
the  South,  as,  for  example,  of  Spain  and  Italy.  The  song 
is  the  inseparable  companion  of  the  whole  Slavic  race.  It 
resounds  in  various  modulations  from  the  mouth  of  Cat- 
taro  to  Kamschatka.  In  the  pleasant  evening  of  summer 
or  autumn  every  Slavic  village  or  orchard  resounds  with 
the  clear,  penetrating  tones  of  woman's  voice,  poured  out 
in  song,  and  so  it  was  from  remotest  times.  The  Emperor 
Mauritius  relates  that  in  one  of  his  battles  against  Bojan, 
prisoners  were  made,  who,  instead  of  weapons,  carried  a 
kind  of  a  musical  instrument  (a  lute),  very  likely  the  gensl 
guzla  of  the  Slavi.  They  were  or  a  gigantic  stature,  and 
when  asked  about  their  country  said  it  was  Slavic,  and 
that  among  them  song  and  music  were  looked  on  as  the 
most  noble  occupations.  Even  now  the  Bohemian  or  the 
Tschechs,  form  the  best  ambulatory  musicians  in  Germany. 


186  RUSSIA    AS   IT    IS. 

The  Russian  peasant  accompanies  all  his  labors  with 
song.  With  it  he  stimulates  his  horse.  Whether  work 
ing  alone  or  in  numbers  he  sings,  and  marks  any  heavy 
work  requiring  the  union  of  many  hands  by  time,  by  rhythm. 
This  he  does  nTwar  or  when  engaged  in  rural  toils. 

In  the  interior  of  Russia,  in  villages  as  well  as  in  cities, 
the  girls  gather  on  autumn  evenings  in  courtyards,  and 
making  a  circle  around  a  fire,  sing  old  songs,  principally 
of  love.  This  is  called  korowody.  There  the  youth  of 
both  sexes  come  together,  when  tender  relations  have  their 
origin. 

With  a  facility  quite  astonishing  a  group  of  soldiers 
or  peasants  will  transform  itself  almost  instantaneously 
into  a  singing  choir,  where  all  the  rules  and  combinations 
of  harmony  will  be  observed,  as  if  in  a  well-trained  opera 
tic  chorus.  A  leader,  or  foreman,  gives  the  tune,  begins*, 
and  the  rest  follow  with  the  greatest  perfection. 

The  man  of  the  people  is  warm-hearted,  polite  in  his 
own  way — that  is,  not  when  he  must  be  servile  towards 
those  above  him,  but  when  he  meets  his  equals.  He  is 
hospitable  to  the  utmost  of  his  means.  Hospitality  is  the 
general  character  of  the  whole  nation.  The  burghers 
practice  it  as  well  as  the  nobles,  and  especially  those  in 
the  country,  to  an  extent  unknown  in  the  rest  of  Europe. 
The  word  for  hospitality  in  Russia  is  chlebo-sol,  bread  and 
salt,  which  gives  the  true  and  simple  meaning  of  sharing 
it  without  any  attempt  at  ostentation. 

In  business  the  peasant  is  shrewd  and  crafty,  nay, 
sometimes  a  sharp  ro^«e.  But  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  he  is  on  the  defensive  against  an  unjust  and  crushing 
social  order,  and  that  cunning  and  roguery  are  the  only 
weapons  which  he  can  quietly  oppose  to  oppression.  There 
fore,  in  justice,  he  cannot  be  censured  for  it. 

One  of  the  prominent  features  in  the  character  of  the 


THE    PEASANTRY THE    SERFDOM.  187 

Russian  peasant  is  an  inexhaustible  patience,  a  kind  of 
physical  and  moral  endurance  of  many  wrongs.  It  is  car 
ried  very  far,  and  seems  to  justify  one  of  the  warmest  and 
most  beautiful  stanzas  from  the  pen  of  the  Polish  poet 
Micke  witch : 

0  biedny  chlopie,  pocoz  mi  Iza  plynie, 

1  serce  bije  gdy  mysle  o  tobie: 

Ah  zal  mi  ciebi  biedny  Slawianinie, 
Biedny  narodzie  ah  zal  mi  twej  doli, 
leden  masz  tylko  heroism  niewoli. 

O  poor  peasant !  what  is  the  reason  that  my  tears  flow, 

And  that  my  heart  beats  when  I  think  of  thee ; 

Ah !  I  pity  thee,  poor  Slavonian : 

Poor  people,  I  pity  thy  destiny, 

Thou  hast  only  one  kind  of  heroism — that  of  slavery. 

This  is  the  only  passage  in  which  this  writer,  of  some 
celebrity,  has  sympathized  with  the  social  wrongs  of  a 
people. 

This  patience,  and  similar  prophecies,  contribute  to 
strengthen  the  common  opinion  that  this  people  is  doomed 
to  eternal  oppression,  that  they  will  always  bear  it  quietly, 
and  thus  remain  the  passive  tools  of  despotism  in  the  old 
world. 

But  notwithstanding  this  patient  endurance,  the  out 
burst  of  the  wrath  of  the  Russian  peasantry,  when  finally 
roused  by  ill-treatment,  cruelty,  wrongs  of  masters  or  of 
officers  of  the  government,  will  then  be  inexorable,  bloody, 
and  the  revenge  terrible.  Such  outbreaks  are  limited  for 
the  present  to  special  cases,  but  sooner  or  later  they  will 
break  out  more  generally,  and  settle  their  accounts  with 
the  old  and  absolute  cause  of  the  social  evil.  Then  the 
people  will  lay  the  axe  to  the  root,  and  then  may  God  be 
merciful  to  the  nobility  and  the  officials.  Pouschkine,  the 
great  Russian  poet,  relating  the  phases  of  an  insurrection 


188  RUSSIA   AS    IT   IS. 

of  the  Cossacks  of  Ural  or  Oreubourg,  joined  by  free  pea- 
sants  and  serfs  from  several  of  the  eastern  counties,  ex 
claims  :  "  May  God  preserve  Russia  from  the  seething  out 
break  of  its  own  people."  This  insurrection,  which  took 
place  under  the  reign  of  Catherine,  and  nearly  extended  to 
the  gates  of  Moscow,  is  known  in  history  under  the  name 
of  Pugatscheff,  the  leader,  who  pretended  to  be  the  mur 
dered  Emperor  Peter  III.,  and  called  himself,  "Czar,  the 
avenger." 

It  was  mentioned  in  the  chapter  concerning  the  army, 
how,  in  1831,  the  peasants  in  revolt  in  the'military  colo 
nies  dealt  with  the  officers.  In  1838-'39  partial  insurrec 
tions  in  the  villages  and  communes  of  some  counties  took 
place,  and  principally  in  the  government  of  Saratoff,  where 
the  manor-houses  were  burnt  with  their  occupants,  and 
civil  officers  (isprawniks)  thrown  into  the  fire.  Such 
movements  occur  continually  in  various  places — as  the 
boiling  elements  and  gases  in  the  bowels  of  our  earth, 
burst  out  partially  here  and  there,  sure  forerunners  of  a 
terrible  and  a  more  general  geological  convulsion. 

The  features  of  the  national  character  mentioned  in 
the  chapters  concerning  the  burghers  and  the  army,  have 
a  more  direct  bearing  on  the  peasantry,  as  forming  pre 
eminently  the  people.  In  its  present  anomalous  state,  it  is 
only  a  wonder  that  it  produces  artisans,  workmen,  and 
manufacturers  at  all.  Its  intellectual  powers,  in  them 
selves  quick,  inventive,  and  manifold,  acting  thus  against  so 
heavy,  numerous,  and  crushing  odds,  prove  their  virtuality 
and  intensity.  The  peasant  has  in  his  turn  more  painful 
impediments  to  overcome  in  any  of  his  enterprises,  than 
even  those  which  the  burgher  has  to  encounter.  Any  in 
struction  is  almost  unattainable  for  the  Russian  peasant. 
Thus  inborn  originality  has  no  room  in  which  to  extend 
her  mighty  wings,  and  up  to  the  present  time  the  intellec- 


THE    PEASANTRY THE    SERFDOM.  189 

ttiality  of  the  people  has  never  really  and  seriously  been 
awakened  into  life.  A  normal  development  is  impossible, 
and  thus  the  higher  individuality  remains  latent,  not  hav 
ing  opportunity  or  room  to  manifest  itself  freely. 

The  mode  of  life  of  the  Russian  peasantry,  in  its  various 
branches  and  regions,  is  nearly  alike.  That  of  the  White 
Russian  is  an  exception,  he  being  the  poorest  and  most 
dejected,  and  moreover  settled  on  the  most  unproductive 
soil  of  Russia.  The  principal  and  general  food  is  farina 
ceous,  and  no  people  in  Europe  consume  so  much  of  it. 
In  the  northern  provinces,  rye  and  oats;  in  the  more 
southern,  wheat,  are  the  staples  of  food.  Potatoes  are  not 
yet  generally  cultivated,  and  consequently  not  used  as 
daily  food,  and  still  less  form  the  exclusive  basis  of  nour 
ishment,  as  they  do  of  the  people  in  Poland  and  through 
the  whole  of  Central  Europe.  In  general,  aside  from  the 
above-mentioned  exceptions  of  the  I*oles  and  the  Bohe 
mians,  the  whole  Slavic  family  is  the  best  and  most  sub 
stantially  nourished  in  the  old  world.  If  the  Slavi  in 
general,  and  above  all  the  Russians,  do  not  consume  meat 
for  daily  use,  they  do  not  live  on  cabbages  and  vegetables, 
but  on  flour  in  various  shapes,  on  groats,  and  animal  fats. 
To  be  sure,  times  of  scarcity  and  famine  make  exceptions, 
and  these  are  rather  increased  by  the  bad  state  and  the 
difficulties  of  internal  communications.  The  south  of 
Russia,  equal  in  extent  to  nearly  the  whole  of  Germany  or 
France,  would  be  always  able  to  feed  the  north  in  case  of 
a  bad  harvest,  but  to  carry  the  bread  stuffs  there  would 
become  far  more  expensive  than  to  bring  them  to  the 
English  market.  Nay,  in  some  cases,  it  would  be  wholly 
impossible.  When  once,  however,  a  good  system  of  inter 
nal  communication  is  introduced  and  extended  in  every 
direction  by  means  of  railroads,  which  are  easily  construct 
ed  in  a  country  where  for  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  miles 


190  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

nothing  disturbs  the  level  of  the  soil,  scarcity,  or  at  least 
famine,  will  become  unknown  in  Russia.  The  use  of  tea 
is  nearly  general  among  the  peasants  of  Russia  proper ; 
with  many  it  is  a  substitute  for  the  use  of  liquors.  Not 
that  the  Russian  peasants  are  temperate,  but  still  those  of 
Poland,  Germany,  England,  and  Ireland  exceed  them  in 
intemperance.  In  Poland,  Lithuania,  and  White  Russia, 
the  nobility,  in  Russia  proper,  the  crown,  have  the  exclu 
sive  privilege  to  inebriate  the  people. 

Cleanliness,  especially  with  the  genuine  Russian,  is 
more  general  than  hasty  and  superficial  travellers  give 
him  credit  for.  All  the  population  of  Russia  take  gen 
erally,  once  a  week,  a  steam  bath,  resembling  that  called 
"oriental."  Every  village,  every  hamlet,  indeed,  nas  a 
public  building  for  this  purpose  called  dania,  besides  nu 
merous  banlas  of  private  individuals.  The  women  go  to 
the  bania  on  Friday  and  the  men  on  Saturday. 

The  wooden  habitation  of  the  peasant,  thejzba,  is  kept 
cleanly,  except  where  absolute  poverty  prevails,  when  the 
miserable  huts  are  disgusting  with  filth  and  are  wretchedly 
kept.  This  is  more  generally  the  case  among  the  serfs. 

These  are  the  principal  and  most  general  outlines  of 
the  character  of  the  Russian  peasantry,  of  its  life,  and  its 
activity.  The  peasantry,  the  people  in  Russia,  is  most 
purely  preserved  as  a  race,  and  there  is  very  little, 
if  any,  foreign  admixture.  The  historical  feeling  of  na 
tionality  is  as  strong  in  them  as  in  any  of  the  Slavic 
tribes,  and  even  stronger  and  more  intense  than  in 
many  of  them.  Notwithstanding  his  oppression  and 
total  exclusion  from  any  political  action — with  the  ex 
ception  of  furnishing  pre-eminently  food  for  the  god  of 
war — the  Russian  peasant  has  a  strong  historical  self-con 
sciousness,  and  this  alone  would  point  to  him  as  the  bearer 
of  the  destinies  of  the  whole  race. 


THE    PEASANTRY THE    SERFDOM.  191 

The  whole  number  of  the  people  or  peasantry  exceeds 
forty-five  millions,  that  is,  of  the  pure  Russian  stock.  This 
mass  forms,  legally  and  socially,  two  great  principal  divi 
sions  :  that  of  the  so-called  free  or  crown  peasants,  and  the 
serfs.  The  former  are  cut  up  into  several  subdivisions, 
according  to  the  rights  by  which  they  hold  property  or 
soil,  and  according  to  the  kind  and  the  nature  of  the  ser 
vitudes  which  they  have  to  fulfil. 

The  code  of  laws,  Swod  Zakonoff,  calls  the  peasantry 
rural  inhabitants,  and  divides  them,  as  follows : 

1.  Those  inhabiting  or  settled  on  lands  belonging  to 
the  public  treasury,  kazna  (a  word  of  Tartar  origin). 

2.  Those  on  special  crown  domains. 

3.  Those  on  lands  forming  the  personal  property  of  the 
Emperor. 

4.  Those  settled  on  lands  belonging  to  the  imperial 
habitations  or  palaces,  dwortsowyie  (from  dworets,  a  pa 
lace). 

5.  Those  settled  on  private  lands,  that  is,  on  lands  be 
longing  to  the  nobility,  or  the  class  of  serfs. 

Finally,  a  small  number  of  freedmen,  freeholders,  hav 
ing  lands  of  their  own. 

With  the  exception  of  the  serfs,  all  the  others  have 
certain  special  personal  rights,  as  well  as  special  duties  or 
services  to  perform,  owing  dues,  most  of  them,  however, 
rather  communal  than  personal.  Among  these  communal 
services  the  principal  are  those  pertaining  to  military 
colonies,  already  spoken  of;  others,  such  as  are  attached 
to  the  imperial  or  governmental  studs ;  others  to  the  mines 
of  Siberia ;  others,  again,  who  keep  post-horses  for  public 
and  governmental  use.  Villages  of  the  latter  tenure  are 
called  iama,  and  the  peasants,  iamsctschik*  There  are 

*  Foreigners  may  be  struck  at  the  often  repeated  occurrence 
of  so  many  consonants,  as  in  the  word  iamschtschik,  but  in  RUB- 


192  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

several  others  of  a  similar  kind,  of  special  communal  ser 
vices,  to  be  mentioned  hereafter. 

To  the  class  of  free  peasants  belong  likewise  foreign, 
mostly  German,  agricultural  colonists — a  kind  of  yeomen 
called  adnodwortsy,  from  nobles  having  forfeited  their 
privileges — and  free  agriculturists,  all  of  whom  possess 
the  soil  as  personal  property. 

These  last  two,  adnodwortsy  and  free  agriculturists, 
live  scattered  in  single  habitations  and  farms,  all  the  other 
peasantry  form  rural  communes,  and  enjoy  the  communal 
franchise.  Thus  the  commune  is  the  cradle  of  the  social 
organism.  The  basis  of  the  commune  is  the  land  on 
which  the  population  is  settled,  and  thus  is  incorporated 
with  it.  Every  peasant  not  a  serf  must  belong  to  such  a 
commune,  which  may  be  large  or  small  according  to  the 
quantity  of  land  owned  and  the  density  of  population. 
There  are  communes  having  a  population  amounting  to 
nearly  twenty  thousand  souls.  Such  a  commune  is  called 
wolost ;  it  is  composed  of  hamlets,  derewnia,  and  villages, 
selo ;  just  as  a  New  England  township  may  embrace  sev 
eral  villages.  Several  such  communes  form  a  rural  district 
or  canton.  A  village  generally  counts  between  six  and 
eight  hundred  families. 

The  internal  police,  the  correction  of  small  offences  by 
short  imprisonment  or  by  no  more  than  fifteen  blows ;  the 
settling  of  contests  among  the  members  ;  the  superintend 
ence  of  a  primary  school,  whose  maintenance  is  obligatory  ; 
the  distribution  on  each  member  of  taxes,  services,  and 
duties ;  the  administration  of  the  recently  founded  com 
munal  rural  banks  ;  the  equal  distribution  of  the  military 
recruits  from  amongst  families  ;  in  one  word,  every  thing 

sian,  the  sound  composed  out  of  schtsch  is  given  by  a  single  sign, 
or  letter. 


THE    PEASANTRY THE    SERFDOM.  193 

*. 

concerning  the  internal  administration  and  working  of  the 
commune,  is  done  by  the  commune  itself.  The  commune 
is  responsible  to  the  treasury  for  the  rent  levied  from  each 
family  having  a  separate  communal  household ;  this  rent, 
called  obrok,  generally,  through  the  whole  of  Russia,  even 
on  the  estates  of  serfs,  amounts  to  ten  dollars.  The  com 
mune  maintains  the  highways  and  roads  on  its  own  ter 
ritory. 

The  commune  owns  all  lands  within  its  limits,  arable 
or  uncultivated,  forests  and  pastures.  No  member  can 
possess  a  distinct,  separate  property  therein,  with  the  ex 
ception  of  the  dwelling-house.  The  arable  land  is  divided 
into  equal  shares  (utschastki)  among  the  heads  of  fami 
lies.  A  married  couple,  tarn  (tieglo)  is  entitled  to  twenty 
acres.  If  the  population  increases  beyond  the  capacity 
of  the  soil  to  maintain  it,  the  government  removes  the 
surplus  into  another  commune  possessing  superabundant 
lands.  The  houses  and  the  land  owned  in  a  commu 
nity  can  never  be  encumbered  nor  sold  by  the  holder. 
Such  a  property,  held  from  the  commune,  cannot  be  di 
vided  between  widows  and  children,  but  de  jure  returns 
to  the  community,  which  grants  it  again  to  the  eldest  male 
in  the  family,  sometimes  to  a  brother,  and  not  to  the  son 
of  the  deceased.  Communes  can  by  purchase  acquire  new 
lands. 

A  commune  can  expel  from  it  any  member  for  bad 
conduct,  for  not  fulfilling  his  communal  duties,  or  give 
him  up  to  the  government  as  a  military  recruit,  to  be  ac 
counted  for  in  the  next  general  levy,  for  imprisonment  for 
life  or  even  for  transportation  to  colonize  Siberia. 

A  commune  of  free  peasants  can  be  entered,  at  any 
time,  by  burghers,  manumitted  serfs,  free  bastards,  serfs 
bought  by  the  crown,  or  slaves  bought  by  the  government 
from  the  nomad  tribes,  by  discharged  soldiers  and  their 


194  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

children.     The  admission  of  any  such  new  member  is  to 
be  decided  by  the  commune. 

-  The  free  peasants  can  own  lands  out  of  the  commune, 
houses  in  other  villages  or  cities.  The  mines  discovered 
on  such  lands  are  the  property  of  the  owners.  This  is  the 
origin  of  the  great  fortune  of  the  Demidoffs,  so  well  known 
in  Europe.  Their  ancestor,  a  skilful  foreman  in  a  manu 
factory  of  arms  at  the  time  of  Peter  the  Great,  was  re 
warded  by  the  Emperor  with  extensive  lands  near  the 
Ural,  supposed  to  contain  only  iron  ore  ;  but  by  mining, 
gold,  silver,  platina,  were  discovered,  and  the  family  be 
came  wealthy  but  not  influential.  Still  the  peasants  are 
excluded  from  owning  houses  in  the  two  capitals,  St.  Pe 
tersburg  and  Moscow.  To  live  out  of  the  commune,  each 
individual  must  have  the  permission  of  his  communal  au 
thority. 

In  the  chapter  concerning  the  various  corporations  of 
burghers,  it  has  already  been  mentioned  that  peasants  liv 
ing  in  cities,  as  tradesmen,  artisans  or  workmen,  cannot 
be  elected  there  for  any  town  office. 

The  communal  board  is  called  wolostnoe  prawlenie. 
All  the  members  of  it,  as  well  as  those  for  the  details  of 
administration  and  police,  are  elected  within  the  com 
mune. 

The  elections  are  consequently  made  for  twofold 
duties ;  firstly,  for  the  general  or  public,  and  secondly,  for 
those  specially  belonging  to  each  commune,  village  or 
hamlet. 

The  public  functions  are  those  of  a  kind  of  concilia 
tory  court,  members  for  the  rural  court  of  police  in  the 
district,  decemviri  and  centurions,  desmstki,  sotski. 

Only  free  peasants  participate  in  the  elections  made 
for  the  public  or  general  offices ;  for  the  details  of  a  local 
police  administration,  serfs  in  the  district  can  partici- 


THE    PEASANTRY THE    SERFDOM.  105 

pate  with  the  commune.  No  Jews  or  heretics  from  the 
Greek  Church,  can  be  elected  to  any  office  whatever  in  an 
orthodox  commune. 

The  elections  are  decided  by  the  majority ;  they  are 
mostly  triennial,  and  their  mode  is  as  follows  : 

Five  hundred  souls  as  recorded  in  the  last  census,  all 
male  householders  of  the  community,  make  choice  of  an 
elector  who  must  be  thirty  years  of  age,  a  father  of  a 
family  possessing  a  house  and  land,  of  good  morals,  and 
who  never  underwent  any  punishment.  The  document 
stating  his  election  ought  to  have  the  signature  of  the 
clergyman,  and  of  at  least  five  husbandmen.  These  elec 
tors  meet  in  the  capital  of  the  district,  and  elect  members 
for  the  public  offices.  The  election  is  made  by  ballot  or 
by  chance,  drawing  out  the  names  as  the  lots  in  a  lottery; 
this  last  mode  being  the  more  ancient  usage  and  still  pre 
served  in  numerous  communities.  The  person  elected 
ought  to  be  a  peasant, — but  should  there  be  none  qualified 
for  the  function,  then  a  nobleman  or  any  functionary  of 
the  government  can  be  chosen. 

Peasants  fulfilling  any  public  official  position  cannot 
be  subjected  to  any  corporal  punishment,  except  by  the  de 
cision  of  a  court.  They  are  salaried,  and  have  to  wear  a 
particular  dress  or  uniform. 

The  elections  for  the  special  administration  of  each 
community,  for  villages  and  hamlets,  are  likewise  triennial. 

Every  hamlet  has  its  elder,  starosta,  who  with  his  as 
sistant  decemviri,  desiatski,  is  elected  by  the  inhabitants. 
The  starosta  receives  a  salary  amounting  to  thirty  dollars, 
the  desiatski  serve  without  pay.  A  hamlet  too  small  to 
have  a  starosta  is  governed  by  a  desiatski.  The  indivi 
dual,  thus  elected,  must  be  twenty-five  years  of  age,  of 
good  morals,  never  having  been  punished  or  under  any 
criminal  accusation. 


196  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

Elections  for  a  village,  and  for  a  whole  commune  are 
made  in  the  following  manner.  Every  ten  husbandmen 
choose  an  elector.  These  meet  and  elect  an  elder,  stars- 
china^  and  his  aids.  Such  an  elder  of  the  village  has  a 
salary  of  about  eighty  dollars.  Further,  a  collector  of 
taxes  and  his  aids.  An  overseer  of  the  common  store 
house.  In  such  houses,  after  each  harvest  a  certain  quan 
tity  of  grain  is  deposited  by  each  husbandman,  to  form  a 
reserve  for  times  of  scarcity.  A  conciliatory  judge,  over 
seers  and  their  assistants  of  communal  forests,  the  centu 
rions  or  sotski,  are  all  elected,  and  from  each  village  there 
are  three  candidates  for  fulfilling  the  public  offices. 

The  communal  board,  or  wolostnoe  prawlenie,  is  chosen 
by  the  electors,  named  by  the  villages  and  from  the  num 
ber  of  the  above  mentioned  candidates,  who  are  elected  at 
the  primary  elections. 

The  functionaries  thus  elected  are — the  golowa,  head 
presiding  officer  over  the  whole  commune,  an  elected  board 
of  administration,  and  the  conciliatory  judges.  The  sa 
lary  of  the  golowa  is  about  120  dollars.  The  administra 
tive  board  has  a  salaried  recorder. 

The  dissidents  from  the  state  church,  and  particularly 
those  who  do  not  recognize  any  regular  clergy,  if  they  live 
in  the  same  village  or  communities  with  the  orthodox, 
cannot  be  elected  to  any  other  function  than  that  of  an 
overseer  of  the  forests.  Those  among  them-  having  a 
clergy,  can  be  elected  tax  gatherers.  When,  however, 
the  whole  community  is  composed  of  sectarians,  then  all 
the  offices  are  possessed  by  them. 

Near  the  sea  shores  or  in  the  well  wooded  regions, 
there  are  villages  and  communes  whose  service  is  to  pre 
pare  timber  for  the  navy,  and  in  them,  individuals  for 
directing  such  labors  are  also  elected. 

The  rural  police,  the  keeping  in  order  of  roads  and 


THE    PEASANTRY THE    SERFDOM.  197 

highways,  the  catching  of  thieves,  etc.,  all  these  duties  are 
fulfilled  in  hamlets  and  villages  by  the  desiatskis  and 
sotskis.  As  mentioned  before,  the  serfs  of  the  district 
can  participate  in  such  elections,  and  be  elected  for  these 
inferior  duties  if  they  combine  with  the  free  communities. 
This  depends,  however,  exclusively  upon  the  masters,  who 
at  their  will  can  select  from  among  their  serfs  the  mem 
bers  of  the  rural  police. 

These  are  the  legal  powers  of  a  commune,  and  the 
rights  of  the  peasantry — called  free,  as  a  distinction  from 
the  serfs.  All  these  communes  are  superintended  and 
directed — and  their  elective  or  internal  administrative  ac 
tion  confirmed,  by  a  special  governmental  branch  having 
its  boards  in  each  county.  Their  duty  is  to  watch  over 
the  interests  of  the  communities  as  well  as  over  those  of 
individuals,  in  all  their  external  relations  or  eventual  col 
lisions,  or  contests  with  qther  branches  of  the  goverment 
or  with  the  nobility. 

This  governmental  branch  is  the  ministry  of  the  crown 
lands  or  demesnes,  and  has  thus  about  twenty-two  millions 
of  population  under  its  direction.  It  has  an  organic  ac 
tion,  as  it  introduces  among  the  peasantry  all  kinds  of 
reforms  ;  administrative  as  well  as  agricultural.  In  some 
respects,  its  action  is  beneficial,  as  when  for  instance  it 
introduces  agricultural  schools,  rural  banks,  and  other 
ameliorations,  thus  making  the  people  acquainted  with 
the  results  of  advancement.  But  where  it  is  true  to  its 
origin,  where  with  all  the  weight  of  despotism  it  tries 
to  transform  the  people  into  mere  machines,  depriving 
them  of  free  will  and  action — where  it  arbitrarily  curtails 
and  destroys  the  scanty  remains  of  individuality,  and  of 
human  dignity  in  the  people,  then  it  is  a  curse.  And 
such  in  many  respects,  it  has  proved  itself  to  be,  and  as 
such  it  is  looked  upon  by  the  peasantry. 


198  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

The  crown  peasants,  whatever  may  be  the  nature  of 
their  tenure,  have  no  other  special  master  than  the  sover 
eign  or  the  goverment,  and  never  can  have  another.  Once 
the  Czars  granted  to  individuals  vast  territories  of  lands 
with  crown  peasants  or  serfs  on  them.  This  is  the  origin 
of  many  great  fortunes  in  Russia,  consisting  in  large  estates, 
and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  souls,  as  that  of  Schereme- 
teff,  Naryschkin,  the  Orloffs,  the  Branickis,  the  last  of 
which  rose  out  of  the  ruins  of  ancient  Poland.  Peter  re 
warded  real  services,  as  in  the  case  of  Scheremeteff ;  Ca 
tharine  was  very  lavish  to  her  favorites  of  every  kind,  and 
she  thus  laid  the  foundations  of  numerous  large  fortunes 
still  existing  in  Russia ;  and  Paul,  was  most  indiscrimin 
ate  in  bestowing  his  favors.  For  the  glory  of  Alexander 
it  must  be  recorded,  that  in  his  youth,  when  under  the 
influence  of  a  generous  and  humane  inspiration,  he  pub 
lished  an  ukase  by  which  it  was  henceforth  and  for  ever 
prohibited  to  any  sovereign,  to  make  donations  of  crown 
peasants  to  any  private  individual  whatever,  or  to  sell 
them,  or  render  them  liable  to  any  statute  for  husbandry 
servitude.  The  present  sovereign  has  thus  far  religiously 
maintained  this  ukase.  Even  in  Poland,  since  the  revo 
lution  of  1831,  the  emperor,  in  dividing  numerous  estates 
of  the  crown,  called  starostwa,  among  the  Russian  generals 
and  others  of  his  servants,  by  a  special  clause  in  every 
grant  directed  that  the  statute  labor  existing  until  that 
time  should  ultimately  become  extinguished,  and  the 
peasant  on  such  lands  become  the  free  and  independent 
owner  of  a  suitable  homestead.  It  must  be  mentioned 
here,  that  in  the  actual  kingdom  of  Poland,  slavery  was 
abolished  by  the  last  king  of  Prussia  in  the  year  1 800, 
when  this  part  of  Poland  formed  one  of  the  Prussian  pro 
vinces.  This  was  confirmed  by  the  Code  of  Napoleon, 
introduced  after  the  treaty  of  Tilsit  in  18Q7,  and  is  still 


THE  PEASANTRY THE  SERFDOM.         199 

maintained.  But  neither  of  these  governments  secured 
for  the  peasantry  any  homestead  on  crown  or  private 
lands. 

TLo  free  peasantry  in  Russia  enjoy  some  rights  and 
privileges,  rendering  their  position  by  far  more  support 
able  than  that  of  the  private  serfs.  It  has  been  already 
shown  that  a  free  peasant  can  freely  engage  in  any  mer 
cantile,  manufacturing,  mechanical,  or  other  industrial  pur 
suit,  and  establish  his  domicil  in  any  city  of  the  empire, 
if  he  possesses  a  permission  of  his  commune,  which 
permission  can  no  wise  be  refused  as  long  as  the  indivi 
dual  pays  the  obrok  and  the  taxes  in  the  commune  to 
which  he  belongs,  aud  fulfils  through  any  hand  all  other 
communal  duties.  Provided  with  such  a  permission  or 
certificate,  the  movements  and  actions  of  a  peasant  are 
perfectly  free ;  he  can  make  proposals  for  all  kinds  of 
public  jobs  contracted  with  the  government.  In  such 
cases  other  contractors  are  obliged  to  give  securities ;  but 
a  crown  peasant  presents  only  the  authorization  of  his 
commune.  He  can  enter  into  the  class  of  burghers  by 
abandoning  his  commune  with  its  consent,  passing  thus 
into  what  is  considerated  a  higher  social  corporation. 

The  chains  of  serfdom  do  not  hang  on  him — but  if  he 
has  no  special  master,  he,  like  the  burgher,  has  still  to 
deal  with  rapacious  ofiicials.  What  is  true  of  the  one  is 
still  and  even  more  largely  to  be  applied  to  the  other. 
Entering  the  superior  corporation  the  peasant  can  melior 
ate  his  position — but  this  melioration  is  very  limited.  All 
openings  for  education  are  absolutely  shut  before  him. 
All  that  he  can  learn  is  to  read  and  write  wretchedly.  If 
there  are  exceptions  they  are  very  rare — and,  so  to  speak, 
rather  the  work  of  a  miracle. 

In  the  hands  of  these  free  peasants  is  by  far  the  great 
est  part  of  the  internal  carrying  trade ;  they  furnish  the 


200  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

greatest  number  of  hands  for  artisans  and  all  kinds  of  handi 
crafts.  Their  sole  contact  with  the  nobility  is  with  the 
numerous  officials,  the  tschynowniks  of  infamous  celebrity. 
But  this  is  sufficient  to  gall  them  to'  the  utmost,  and  keep 
alive  in  the  peasantry  the  hatred  towards  the  nobility. 
Then  the  free  peasants  dwell  and  live  by  the  side  of  the 
serfs,  their  brothers,  relations,  friends,  acquaintances,  and 
thus  find  many  occasions  to  nourish  and  stir  up  this  feel 
ing  of  hostility.  In  proportion  as  their  well-being  in 
creases,  and  by  their  busy  life  they  come  more  and  more 
in  contact  with  worldly  doings  and  relations,  they  feel  the 
more  their  oppressed  and  dejected  position,  and  the 
stronger  and  more  intense  becomes  the  desire  for  emanci 
pation. 

Generally,  a  spirit  of  independence  prevails  among 
them  to  a  high  degree.  They  learn  in  their  communal 
organization  to  judge  and  act,  to  be  something;  to  ex 
ercise,  however  feebly,  their  mental  powers ;  to  have  the 
aspirations  of  a  human  being.  The  official  pressure  aims 
principally  at  their  pockets,  and  thus  with  money  they 
are  enabled  to  come  to  terms  with  the  officials — still  they 
retain  the  ever-growing  wish  to  get  rid  of  these  officials, 
and  of  the  whole  governmental  structure.  They  have  in 
common  with  the  whole  mass  of  population,  an  inborn 
consciousness  of  the  absolute  existence  of  human  rights, 
of  Imman  dignity.  This  consciousness,  however  dim  and 
feeble  it  may  be  at  present,  will  by-and-by  grow  and  trans 
form  itself  into  a  social  fact. 

Not  to  say  that  for  the  immense  majority  of  the  pea 
santry,  the  Czar  in  abstracto  has  ceased  to  be  something 
between  Heaven  and  earth,  between  God  and  man, — yet 
the  deputies  of  the  Czar  contribute  most  actively  to 
tarnish  the  Czarean  aureole,  reducing  by  slow  progress, 
the  supernatural  conception  to  the  most  earthly  and  op- 


THE    PEASANTRY THE    SERFDOM.  201 

pressive  reality.  The  old  consolatory  feeling  and  adage 
uttered  by  the  people  at  every  injustice  and  oppression  : 
"  If  only  the  Czar  could  know  it"  dies  slowly  and  slowly 
away.  The  people  become  more  and  more  aware  that : 
"  The  Czar  knows"  but  turns  away  and  helps  not. 

The  peasant  learns,  that  in  his  commune  he  could  do 
well  without  the  official,  and  that  such  interference,  while 
it  is  costly,  is  always  rather  pernicious  than  otherwise. 
The  official  strips  him  of  the  earnings  of  his  industry, 
the  results  of  his  hard  labor.  And  this  official  acts  in 
the  name  of  the  Czar,  and  under  it  shelters  his  authority, 
as  well  as  his  abuse  of  power.  As  before  said,  the  pea 
santry  begin  already  to  perceive  the  inutility  of  the 
tschynownik,  and  in  time  will  see  clearly  the  inutility  of 
the  Czar  himself. 

It  has  been  mentioned,  that  to  the  class  of  free  peasantry 
belong  various  kinds  of  freeholders,  as  well  as  some  others 
occupying  lands  granted  under  servitudes  already  extinct, 
reminiscent  of  a  state  of  things  changed  wholly  by  a  new 
governmental  organism.  Thus  the  creation  of  a  standing 
army  destroyed  the  class  of  the  so-called  pancernyie 
bo'iary—  coat-of-mail  boi'ars,  whose  duty  was  to  appear  armed 
in  case  of  war,  and  who  formed  the  common  soldiery  of 
infantry  and  of  cavalry.  The  legal  position  of  all  such 
free-holders  is  as  follows  : 

First,  are  the  odnodwortsy,  one-manored,  formed,  as 
stated,  from  nobles  who  have  forfeited  their  privilege — as 
well  as  from  old  soldiers  colonized  by  Peter  I.,  in  some 
of  the  southern  governments,  and  on  whom  he  bestowed 
that  right.  The  odnodwortsy  can  hold  serfs,  but  they 
cannot  buy  them  from  real  nobles,  but  only  from  members 
of  their  own  class.  If  they  have  lands  in  rural  communi 
ties,  in  common  with  other  peasants,  they  pay  therefor 
an  obrok.  In  such  communes  they  participate  in  all  the 
9* 


202  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

rights  and  privileges  of  the  commune,  and  can  be  elected 
to  all  the  communal  functions. 

The  coat-of-mail  boiars  were  once  very  numerous — 
but  by  grants,  or  mostly  by  an  unlawful  appropriation, 
they  became,  with  their  lands,  the  private  property  of  the 
nobility,  and  thus  were  transformed  into  serfs.  If,  how 
ever,  any  descendant  can  prove  his  legitimate  descent, 
the  government  pays  about  thirty  dollars  to  the  owner 
for  his  emancipation. 

Land  held  under  the  like  tenure  cannot  be  sold  by  the 
holder  except  with  the  permission  of  the  Czar.  Such 
lands  are  transmitted  by  inheritance  in  a  direct  line.  It 
is,  so  to  speak,  the  only  feudal  tenure  that  ever  existed  in 
Russia. 

These  boiars  pay  the  capitation  tax  like  the  burghers, 
but  no  obrok  for  the  land.  As  they  are  not  numerous, 
and  rather  scattered,  they  do  not  form  communities,  but  in 
some  cases,  as  for  example,  in  that  of  recruits,  or  in  ful 
filling  the  service  of  the  rural  police,  they  are  incorporated 
into  the  nearest  rural  commune  or  village. 

Free  agriculturists,  wolnye  chlebopaschtsy,  are  princi 
pally  manumitted  serfs,  with  soil  or  without,  and  in  this 
last  case,  they  can  buy  land  from  anybody.  The  manu 
missions  with  soil  must  be  made  by  the  owner  during  his 
lifetime  and  not  by  will. 

If  they  are  numerous  enough,  they  form  rural  com 
munes  on  the  general  principle ;  if  not,  they  are  incorpo 
rated  in  the  existent  ones.  They  can  sell  and  buy  lands 
and  divide  them  among  their  children,  but  in  lots  not  un 
der  sixteen  acres.  They  can  contract  for  public  jobs, 
podriad,  enter  guilds,  erect  manufactories,  carry  on  trade 
and  enjoy  all  the  privileges  of  free  peasantry.  There  are 
still  some  few  other  kinds  of  privileged  peasantry,  but  their 
number  is  very  small  and  wholly  insignificant. 


THE  PEASANTRY— THE  SERFDOM.         203 

II.  Tne  serfs.  Nearly  the  entire  half  of  the  Russian 
peasantry,  if  not  wholly  enslaved,  according  to  the  abso 
lute  signification  of  the  word,  are,  however,  serfs  or  bond 
men,  attached  to  the  soil,  glebce  adscripti,  rather  than  to 
the  person  of  the  nobleman,  and  thus  they  are  at  least 
not  chattels.  The  power  of  the  master  is  not  wholly 
arbitrary  and  unlimited  and  unlawless — but  the  servitude 
is  reduced  to  a  certain  method,  regulated  as  follows,  by  the 
civil  law. 

By  usage,  the  serfs  are  of  two  kinds :  agriculturists 
and  house  serfs,  but  the  law  does  not  recognize  these  dis 
tinctions. 

An  'Ukase  published  by  Catharine  in  the  year  1781, 
prohibited,  for  the  future,  the  enslaving  of  the  peasantry. 

The  ownership  of  a  serf  or  serfs,  is  proved  by  the  cen 
sus.  The  first  census  was  made  by  Peter  the  Great,  in 
the  year  1714  ;  the  next  in  1744.  In  the  present  century 
the  census  is  made  every  ten  years.  In  the  territory  of 
Bessarabia,  neither  Russian  nor  Moldavian  nobility  can 
own  serfs  from  among  the  Russian  peasantry,  and  other 
races  cannot  be  enslaved.  This  law  was  published  to  pre 
vent  the  introduction  of  serfdom  in  a  newly  conquered  and 
annexed  territory.  It  is  a  kind  of  Wilmot  proviso.  The 
children  of  a  male  serf  remain  in  the  condition  of  the 
father,  even  if  the  mother  belongs  to  a  better  class. 

If  any  nobleman  sends,  for  punishment,  his  serf  to 
Siberia,  and  the  serf  receives  there  lands  from  the  crown 
as  a  colonist,  his  children,  the  males  under  seven  years  of 
age,  and  girls  under  ten,  follow  the  father  to  the  new  con 
dition — colonized  exiles  in  Siberia  form  successively  com 
munities  of  free  peasantry. 

A  woman  from  a  free  class  marrying  a  serf,  becomes 
free  again  as  widow ;  a  woman  from  bondage  marrying  a 
free  peasant,  becomes  likewise  free. 


204  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

When  the  husband  becomes  free  by  law,  or  i>y  manu 
mission,  or  by  contract,  his  wife  shares  his  freedom  ipso 
facto,  but  not  the  children ;  they  must  be  emancipated  by 
a  special  act. 

If  a  master  demands  from  his  serfs  any  thing  contrary 
to  law,  as  revolt,  murder,  stealing,  and  they  accomplish 
it,  they  are  punished  as  his  accomplices.  The  serfs  pay 
the  expenses  of  the  administration  in  each  county.  This 
is  the  only  direct  tax  levied  on  the  property  of  the  nobil 
ity.  In  criminal  matters,  the  serfs  are  judged  by  com 
mon  criminal  tribunals,  before  whom,  they  likewise  can 
appear  in  the  character  of  accusers  and  witnesses. 

The  law  makes  it  obligatory  on  the  serf  to  resist  any 
attack  made  on  the  property  of  the  master,  as  well  as  upon 
the  honor  of  his  wife  and  daughter.  The  owner  cannot 
force  his  serfs  to  marry  against  their  will,  or  point  out 
whom  they  shall  marry ;  this  provision  of  the  law  is  very 
generally  evaded. 

If  a  serf  makes  an  unjust  official  complaint  against 
his  master,  or  if  he  dares  to  present  such  a  petition  to 
the  emperor :  the  petitioner,  and  the  writer  of  the  petition, 
are  both  most  severely  punished. 

In  case  of  insubordination,  disobedience  to  the  master 
or  the  overseer,  the  serfs  are  punished  by  a  military  com 
mission,  and  pay  the  expenses  thereof.  All  civil  or  po 
lice  and  military  functionaries,  are  prohibited  to  receive 
any  denunciation  made  by  the  serf  against  his  master, 
with  the  exception  of  a  conspiracy  against  the  person  of  the 
sovereign ;  or  when  the  master  tries  to  make  a  misstate- 
ment  as  to  the  census ;  or  when,  if  a  Roman  Catholic,  he 
tries  to  convert  his  orthodox  serfs. 

A  serf  cannot  change  his  master,  leave  him,  or  enter 
any  corporation.  For  all  these  the  consent  of  the  owner 


THE    PEASANTRY THE    SERFDOM.  205 

is  necessary.  Without  such  a  consent  serfs  cannot  be  re 
ceived  as  volunteers  into  the  army. 

Runaway  serfs  are  returned  to  the  owners  at  the  cost 
of  those  who  had  kept  or  secreted  them.  After  ten  years  a 
master  forfeits  the  right  to  claim  a  runaway.  Such  claims, 
supported  by  proofs,  must  be  made  during  the  first  year 
after  the  escape,  if  the  master  is  in  Russia,  and  in  the 
course  of  two  years,  if  the  master  is  abroad. 

If  a  serf  is  killed  by  accident,  his  owner  receives  from 
the  culprit  the  sum  of  330  dollars  ;  but  if  it  is  a  murder, 
then  the  murderer  suffers-  the  same  as  if  the  crime  was 
committed  on  any  one  else.  In  such  a  case  the  owner  of 
the  murdered  man  does  not  receive  any  compensation. 

A  serf  who  is  not  a  house  servant,  must  work  for  his 
master  three  days  a  week.  He  cannot  be  forced  to  do 
any  work  on  Sundays  or  any  other  church  and  parish  holi 
days,  or  on  the  day  of  the  patron  saints  of  the  reigning 
sovereigns.  The  master  can,  at  his  pleasure,  transform 
the  house  serf  dworoivoi,  into  a  soil  tiller,  and  vice  versa. 
He  can  hire  his  serfs  to  mechanics,  manufacturers,  and 
to  any  other  labor  whatever.  He  is  the  supreme  judge 
in  all  civil  contests  between  his  serfs.  He  can  punish 
them  corporally,  but  not  cripple  them,  or  put  life  in 
jeopardy.  He  can  require  the  assistance*  of  the  govern 
ment  for  the  coercion  of  his  serfs.  In  case  of  a  criminal 
offence  the  master  must  abstain  from  any  punishment,  but 
deliver  the  offender  to  the  law.  He  can  send  serfs  to 
Siberia  or  to  any  other  penitentiary  establishment. 

No  serf  can  live  in  any  city,  or  serve  any  person  what 
ever  without  the  consent  of  the  master,  and  the  authorities 
are  to  see  that  this  provision  be  not  transgressed — and  are 
severely  responsible.  The  master  gives  to  the  serf  a  pass 
port,  and  furnished  with  this,  he  can  move  freely  in  the 
whole  empire. 


206  RUSSIA    AS    IT    18. 

The  master  has  the  power  to  transfer  the  serfs  individ 
ually  or  by  whole  communities  from  one  village,  district, 
or  county  into  another.  Any  nobleman  owning  serfs  of 
any  kind,  must  have  for  every  one,  at  least  twenty  acres 
of  land.  Only  a  nobleman  can  receive  a  power  of  attor 
ney  for  the  buying  or  selling  of  serfs. 

The  master  cannot  hire  his  serfs  to  individuals  whom 
the  law  prohibits  to  own  serfs,  nor  let  them  learn  any  pro 
fession  any  where  else,  than  from  masters  inscribed  in  a 
guild. 

Serfs,  either  servants  or  agriculturists,  held  by  those 
who  have  no  right  to  own  them,  become  free  ;  that  is  they 
become  incorporated  into  the  free  crown  peasantry,  and  the 
unlawful  owners  pay  a  fine  into  the  treasury. 

Families  cannot  be  separated  by  sale.  The  family 
consists  of  the  parents  and  the  unmarried  children  even 
if  of  age.  The  children  form  a  family  after  the  death  of 
the  parents.  Serfs  cannot  be  brought  to  market,  but  are 
to  be  sold  only  together  with  the  estate.  If  sold  sepa 
rately  the  crown  takes  them  as  its  peasants,  and  the  trans 
gressors  of  the  law  are  fined.  Serfs  acquiring  their  liberty 
in  such  a  way,  can  make  the  choice  of  a  mode  of  life,  and 
of  a  corporation  into  which  they  will  become  inscribed. 

In  cases  of  scarcity  or  famine,  the  owner  cannot  send 
away  his  serfs,  but  is  obliged  to  take  care  of  them.  He 
is  likewise  obliged  to  take  care  of  the  old,  and  the  in 
valids. 

If  there  be  any  abuse  of  power  by  the  master,  any 
cruelty  or  rape,  the  law  takes  from  the  owner  the  adminis 
tration  of  the  estate  and  puts  it  in  the  hands  of  guardians, 
or  of  a  board  selected  for  this  purpose  in  each  district, 
from  among  the  nobility.  Such  masters  cannot  acquire  new 
estates  by  purchase,  and  in  aggravated  cases  can  be  given 
up  to  the  criminal  courts.  For  this  the  special  decision 


THE    PEASANTRY THE    SERFDOM.  207 

% 

of  the  sovereign  is  required.  Likewise  the  owners  can 
not  live  on  the  estates,  whose  administration  is  thus  taken 
out  of  their  hands.  The  villages  or  estates  are  responsi 
ble  for  governmental  taxes.  If  a  serf  has  a  lawsuit,  his 
master  must  prosecute  it,  and  the  master  is  answerable 
for  the  results,  whenever  the  serf  has  had  his  permission 
to  enter  into  any  civil  liability.  In  criminal  matters  con 
cerning  a  serf  the  interference  of  the  master  is  optional. 

Serfs  cannot  be  sold  separate  from  the  soil,  or  at  any 
public  auction  in  execution  of  the  debts  of  the  master. 

If  a  serf  or  serfs  sue,  on  legal  grounds,  their  master 
for  emancipation,  having  been  brought  into  serfdom  con 
trary  to  the  provisions  of  the  law  :  while  the  legal  pro 
ceedings  are  pending,  the  master  cannot  inflict  on  them 
any  corporal  punishment  under  the  penalty  of  a  criminal 
prosecution;  nor  can  he  mortgage  or  let  them  out  by 
lease ;  and  if  the  first  court  decide  in  their  favor,  and 
the  affair  goes  to  the  court  of  appeal,  the  master  cannot 
give  them  to  the  military  service  pending  the  final  deci 
sion. 

Serfs  carrying  on  a  legal  trade  with  the  consent  of  the 
master,  cannot  be  given  up  by  him  as  recruits  or  for  the 
colonization  of  Siberia.  Serfs  cannot  own  immovable  pro 
perty  ;  all  houses  and  lands  possessed  by  them  are  the  pro 
perty  of  the  master.  Should  a  serf  inherit  such  property, 
it  must  be  sold  and  the  money  handed  over  to  him.  Serfs 
erecting  shops  and  manufactures,  must  have  a  special 
permission  of  the  master,  likewise  for  entering  the  guild 
of  artisans,  and  for  selling  the  produce  of  their  industry 
in  cities  and  markets.  For  taking  public  jobs,  podriad, 
or  keeping  post-horses  on  public  roads,  they  must  have 
the  consent  and  the  guaranty  of  the  master. 

The  serf  can  lend  out  money  on  legal  terms,  but  not 
take  mortgages  on  land  in  villages  or  estates.  Only  with 


208  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

the  consent  of  the  master  can  they  buy  on  credit  goods 
for  traffic — otherwise  they  cannot  be  prosecuted,  and  any 
bargain  or  stipulation  is  void  by  itself. 

The  master  has  the  right  to  manumit  his  serfs  indi 
vidually,  or  by  whole  hamlets  and  villages,  with  or  without 
giving  them  lands. 

A  permission  given  by  the  master  to  his  serf  to  marry 
a  girl,  who  is  a  pupil  and  educated  in  a  public  establish 
ment  for  the  children  of  burghers — is  equivalent  to  manu 
mission. 

A  manumitted  serf  cannot  be  brought  again  into  serf 
dom.  A  serf  can  obtain  his  liberty  by  a  legal  juridical 
decision.  1 .  If  he  proves  an  antecedent  right  to  liberty.  2. 
If  his  master  does  not  belong  to  any  Christian  confession. 
3.  If  the  master  has  made  a  forcible  attack  on  the  virtue 
of  his  wife  or  daughter,  or  committed  any  other  impro 
priety.  4.  If  the  serf  was  made  a  prisoner  by  the  enemy 
and  carried  beyond  the  frontiers  of  the  state — on  return 
ing  he  does  not  return  into  serfdom.  .  5.  If  by  the 
master  he  is  given  up  to  the  disposition  of  the  govern 
ment. 

The  serf  obtains  his  liberty  if  he  proves  against  his 
master  the  crime  of  treason,  or  a  conspiracy  against  the 
life  of  the  sovereign. 

A  serf  condemned  legally  to  exile  to  Siberia  ceases  to 
be  owned  by  the  master ;  his  wife  following  him  into  exile 
becomes  free. 

A  serf  becomes  free  if  sold  without  lands,  or  if  the 
buyer  does  not  possess  the  quantity  of  land  required 
by  law,  or  if  his  family  is  separated  from  him  by  sale. 

These  are  the  principal  features  of  the  legal  organiza 
tion  of  serfdom.  As  was  said,  part  of  the  serfs  are 
agriculturists  called  pachatnaia  duscha,  the  others  house 
serfs  or  dworowaia. 


THE    PEASANTRY THE    SERFDOM.  209 

The  agricultural  serfs  are  settled  in  hamlets  and  vil 
lages,  till  their  own  soil  and  that  of  the  manor  farm,  ful 
filling  there  all  the  labors  of  husbandry.  In  more  popu 
lous  villages,  and  above  all  in  large  estates,  they  are  or 
ganized  in  communes  on  nearly  the  same  principles  as  are 
the  free  peasants.  But  such  an  organization  depends 
absolutely  upon  the  will  of  the  owner.  It  is  mostly  the 
case,  where  the  arable  land  is  not  extensive  enough,  or  for 
some  other  reason  is  wholly  abandoned  to  the  peasants, 
that  they  pay  for  its  use  to  the  landlord  a  redevance  or 
obrok,  and  in  such  case  they  are  called  obrotschnye  dus- 
cliy,  renting  souls ;  or  the  master  receives  from  his  farm 
lands  a  certain  quantity  of  the  produce  of  the  soil.  But 
all  such  arrangements  depend  absolutely  upon  the  mas 
ter. 

The  house  serfs  live  on  the  manor  and  its  immediate 
dependencies.  They  are  often  very  numerous,  and  thus  a 
heavy  burden  to  the  owner,  sometimes  even  his  ruin. 
They  generally  refuse  to  be  settled  as  agriculturists,  look 
ing  upon  it  as  altogether  below  their  condition.  They 
constitute  the  male  and  female  servants  of  the  household, 
stewards,  private  overseers,  household  artisans,  mechanics, 
and  workmen,  sometimes  even  personal  attorneys  when  by 
choice  or  whim  the  master  has  given  to  such  one  a  suitable 
education.  Generally  the  master  takes  care  to  make  the 
males  learn  some  handicraft,  and  when  they  are  able  to 
earn  their  living  he  gives  them  a  permission  or  passport, 
and  they  go  over  the  country  in  search  of  suitable  employ 
ment.  They,  as  well  as  all  other  serfs  who  are  furnished 
with  such  a  passport,  can  be  called  home  by  the  mas 
ter  at  any  time.  These  wandering  serfs  are  obliged  to 
report  to  him  their  whereabouts ;  and  they  pay  him  a  rent 
proportioned  to  their  earnings,  or  the  cost  of  their  educa 
tion.  Others  establish  themselves  as  tradesmen,  etc. 


'210  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

The  serfs  compose,  to  a  great  extent,  the  floating  popula 
tion  of  cities.  In  the  largest  of  them,  as  St.  Petersburg, 
Moscow,  Nijnei  Novgorod,  etc.,  serfs  can  be  found  who 
are  wealthy  tradesmen.  The  obrok  paid  by  them  to  their 
owner  is  generally  the  customary  one,  and  at  a  rate  not  at 
all  proportioned  to  their  fortune.  But  they  are  completely 
dependent  on  the  will  of  the  master,  who  can  recall  and 
transplant  them  to  any  of  his  villages  and  hamlets.  There 
are  cases  where  masters  are  comparatively,  nay  even  posi 
tively  poorer  than  their  serfs,  and  still  refuse  to  sell  them 
their  liberty,  even  for  a  large  sum.  Such  a  refusal  is 
generally  the  result  of  an  inveterate  pride,  and  of  a  repul 
sive  feeling  concerning  emancipation. 

In  absolute  principle,  the  whole  movable  property, 
money,  etc.,  of  a  serf,  belongs  to  the  master.  The  law  is 
silent  in  this  matter.  In  practice,  however,  no  owner 
in  this  manner  robs  his  serfs.  Public  opinion  would  not 
tolerate  it,  and  above  the  public  opinion  there  is  sus 
pended  the  dread  of  assassination. 

To  a  certain  degree,  the  law  watches,  in  a  more  or  less 
tutelary  manner,  over'  the  fate  of  the  serfs.  Its  provisions 
have  been  enumerated.  But  abuse,  or  evasion  of  the  law 
cannot  be  prevented.  Its  handling,  its  execution,  as  well 
as  the  framing  of  public  opinion  is  in  the  hands  of  the  no 
bility.  Only  very  tyrannical  abuses  of  power  come  to 
daylight.  They  are  corrected  either  by  the  law,  or  by 
the  interference  of  the  sovereign,  or  in  the  last  and  su 
preme  appeal,  by  the  sufferers  themselves.  It  is  likewise 
a  great  error  committed  by  some  eclogical  writers  who  di 
late  complacently  about  the  would-be  patriarchal  mutual 
relations  of  serf  and  master.  Such  a  paternal  rule  may 
be  found  by  accident,  but  even  such  accidents  are  so  rare, 
that  they  cannot  be  looked  on  as  establishing  any  rule. 
Neither  of  the  extremes  of  cruelty  and  paternal  suavity 


THE    PEASANTRY THE    SERFDOM.  211 

occur  generally — and  the  bulk  of  the  noblemen  are  neither 
tyrants  nor  patriarchs,  but  shrewd  masters — taking  watch 
ful  care  of  their  own  interest.  The  owners  of  large  estates 
do  not  live  on  them — and  sometimes  do  not  visit  many  of 
them  at  all.  The  task  of  ruling  the  serfs  is  given  up  to 
tally  to  overseers — who  generally  are  no  patriarchs,  what 
ever  may  be  their  nationality,  G-erman  or  native.  The 
small  nobility  want  generally  more  than  their  fortune 
yields,  and  to  get  it  squeeze  as  much  as  possible  the  labor 
ing  serf  5  and  without  being  inhuman,  they  will  not  sacri 
fice  their  own  well-being  to  that  of  the  peasantry. 

The  internal  organization  of  estates  and  villages  is  ab 
solutely  unconditionally  dependent  on  the  owner.  He  can 
introduce  any  form  whatever,  and  as  has  been  mentioned, 
the  communal  organization  prevails  here  likewise.  The 
power  of  emancipating  the  serfs  is  absolutely  in  the  hands 
of  the  nobleman.  No  law  obliges  or  prevents  him  from 
doing  it.  Pride,  together  with  economical  considerations, 
embracing  that  of  "  to  be,  or  not  to  be  "  for  the  immense 
majority  of  the  nobility,  are  the  principal  impediments. 
It  must  and  cannot  be  forgotten,  that  the  nobility,  rich  or 
poor,  counting  their  serfs  by  thousands,  or  hundreds,  or 
only  by  tens,  all  live  on  the  peasant.  When  the  estate  is 
large,  or  formed  of  several  villages  situated  together,  their 
administration  is  easier  and  thus  more  beneficial  for  the 
laboring  class.  Worse  is  it  when  they  are  parcelled  out — 
which  is  very  often  the  case — into  small  hamlets,  scattered 
in  all  directions — distant  miles  and  miles  from  each  other. 
But  the  worst  of  all  is  when  a  small  number  is  owned  by 
a  poor  obscure  country  squire,  and  of  such  owners  there 
are  very  many. 

In  large  estates — the  prescriptions  of  the  law  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding — the  marriages  of  the  serfs  are 
always  made  with  the  interference  of  the  master  or  the 


212  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

overseer,  but  on  such  estates,  the  choice  of  the  serf  is  gen 
erally  regarded.  As  the  wife  follows  the  husband,  a  maid 
en  is  seldom  taken  from  a  neighboring  estate,  except  where 
the  bridegroom  is  rich  enough  to  buy  his  bride.  In  smaller 
estates  where  the  choice  is  more  limited,  generally  after 
the  field  labors  are  over,  in  the  fall  season,  the  master 
calls  the  families  together  and  inquires  about  their  mutual 
inclinations,  pays  attention  to  them,  and  endeavors  to  ar 
range  things  by  mutual  agreement ;  but  when  all  is  of  no 
avail,  then  he  decides  arbitrarily — points  out  the  pairs, 
and  then  the  ceremony  is  fulfilled  by  the  parish  priest. 

Such  are  the  nature,  the  characteristics  and  the  work 
ing  of  serfdom  in  Russia.  Accursed  as  it  is,  it  has 
little  or  no  similitude  to  that  greater  curse — absolute 
slavery.  It  is  neither  so  cruel  nor  so  debasing,  so  degrad 
ing  to  both  servant  and  master  as  the  "  peculiar  institu 
tion."  Serfdom  in  many  most  striking  features  is  wholly 
different  from  the  slavery  of  the  ancient  world,  and  the 
modern  slavery  of  the  United  States,  which  in  their  turn 
differ,  and  not  for  the  better,  from  that  of  the  East. 

Slavery  and  serfdom  are  in  nowise  autochtone  Slavic 
institutions.  Quite  the  contrary.  Both  serfdom  and 
slavery  were  in  use  among  the  savage  Germans  and  Celts 
as  well  as  among  the  civilized  or  polished  Greeks  and  Ro 
mans.  Antiquity  as  well  as  Christianity  dealt  with  it. 
Serfdom  disappears  reluctantly  from  modern  civilization. 
The  French  revolution  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  its 
death  knell.  But  slavery  was  unknown  to  the  Slavi  of  old. 
Not  even  prisoners  of  war  became  enslaved.  The  Byzantine 
Emperor,  Mauritius,  describing  the  manners,  customs  and 
the  mode  of  life  of  the  Slavi  on  the  Danube  and  beyond 
it,  says  that  prisoners  of  war  were  detained  for  a  year,  and 
if  during  this  time  they  did  not  become  acclimated  to  the 
new  country,  they  could  freely  return  to  their  own.  The 


THE  PEASANTRY THE  SERFDOM.         213 

accounts  of  antiquity  concerning  the  Hyperborei,  whose 
dwellings  in  all  probability  were  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  present  Russia,  describe  their  hospitality,  and  peace 
ful  habits  of  life — and  inform  us  that  their  country  was  a 
safe  harbor  for  all  fugitives. .  This  does  not  point  by  any 
means  to  slavery.  That  these  Hyperborei  were  the  source, 
the  forefathers  of  the  Russians,  could  with  difficulty  be  con 
tested.  Nothing  authorizes  us  to  presume,  as  there  exist 
no  proofs  or  records,  that  either  serfdom  or  slavery  were 
used  by  the  two  most  ancient  republics  of  the  Christian 
era,  that  of  PskofF  and  Novgorod,  situated  in  the  regions 
of  the  Hyperborei.  It  was  likewise  unknown  in  the  pri 
mitive  times  of  Poland,  Bohemia,  and  all  the  western  and 
southern  Slavic  regions.  In  Poland  it  was  unhappily 
rather  fostered  by  the  Roman  clergy,  who  traced  the  de 
scent  of  the  peasantry  from  the  cursed  Cham ;  there,  as 
in  Bohemia,  it  was  introduced  by  contact  with  the  Ger 
mans,  nearly  simultaneously  with  the  establishment  of  no 
bility  ;  both  slavery  or  serfdom  and  nobility  are  thus  emi 
nently  German  and  Celtic,  and  above  all  Anglo-Saxon  in 
stitutions,  founded  among  them  already  by  Caesar  and 
Tacitus.  The  Slavi  from  the  Adriatic  to  the  Baltic  and 
the  Wolga  were  not  familiar  with  either  of  them.  They 
had  only  elders,  starschiny,  or  as  in  the  western  tribes,  the 
Zupan,  from  whom  by  the  influence  of  time  and  of  a  bad 
example,  arose  or  was  formed  the  Pan,  that  is  the  Sir, 
Lord,  Nobleman.  In  the  East,  in  Russia,  the  denomina 
tion  of  noblemen,  dworianin,  is  derived  fron^  dwor,  manor, 
a  thing  anciently  unknown  among  the  two  republics. 

The  Slavic  region  was  for  the  greater  part  divided 
into  smaller  or  larger  communities — and  old  legends  men 
tion  chiefs  or  princes  elected  by  the  people  from  among 
themselves ;  and  such  chiefs  were  agriculturists,  artisans,  as 
wheel-makers,  jewelers,  etc.  In  Russia  slavery  dates,  with 


214  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

the  utmost  probability,  since  the  introduction  of  the  North 
men,  originating  with  prisoners  of  war,  and  being  establish 
ed  over  conquered  tribes  of  no  Slavic  descent.  This  was 
done  when  Rurik  and  his  successors  descended  the  Dwina, 
the  Dnieper,  and  established  there  new  dominions.  In  the 
course  of  time,  the  conquerors  cleared  the  forests,  estab 
lished  villages  and  cities.  As  in  other  feudal  countries, 
the  tower,  the  SchZoss,  was  outside  of  the  village  or  of 
the  borough  : — so  was  in  Russia  the  dwor  or  manor,  where 
the  conqueror  or  master  dwelt — and  from  which  was  de 
rived  his  name  of  dworianin.  That  the  genuine  Russian 
of  that  time,  whatever  may  have  been  his  social  position, 
was  free  in  his  village,  is  beyond  doubt,  as,  according  to 
old  records,  the  boroughs  and  villages,  dependencies  of  the 
manor,  were  settled  principally  with  prisoners  of  war  and  the 
conquered  population.  It  was  during  the  centuries  of  the 
Tartar  dominion  that  the  people,  the  peasantry,  became 
nailed  to  the  soil  and  deprived  of  the  right  of  freely  chang 
ing  their  domicil.  Then  successively  every  peasant,  that 
is,  every  agriculturist  tilling  the  soil  with  his  own  hands, 
became  enslaved.  Only  in  estates  owned  by  monasteries 
and  convents,  which  were  very  numerous  and  generally 
very  rich,  slavery  being  judged  to  be  opposed  to  Christian 
doctrine,  it  did  not  take  root  at  once.  Generally  monks 
were  reluctant  to  the  utmost,  and  even  directly  opposed 
to  the  sale  of  men  in  the  markets,  and  the  dependants  of 
a  monastery  were  never  sold  in  such  a  manner. 

Borys  Gudenoff,  the  usurper  of  the  throne  and  the 
murderer  of  the  lawful  heir  in  the  last  years  of  the  XVIth 
century,  tried  to  restore  to  the  people  their  lost  rights, 
at  least  that  of  a  free  change  of  domicil  and  of  mas 
ter.  But  his  attempts  were  unsuccessful,  and  only  served 
to  make  him  more  unpopular  with  the  mighty  boyars  or 


THE    PEASANTRY THE    SERFDOM.  215 

aristocracy — which  unpopularity  facilitated   the  conquest 
of  the  Empire  by  the  false  pretender  Dimitry. 

Donations  of  estates  made  by  the  Grand  Dukes  of  Mos 
cow  to  the  nobility,  to  the  boyars,  and  to  princely  families 
after  they  had  been  deprived  of  their  sovereignty — were 
among  the  principal  means  by  which  free  rural  commu 
nities  became  private  property,  and  were  subjected  to 
slavery,  to  serfdom.  Of  this  practice,  there  are  traces  in 
the  ukases,  and  it  was  stopped  only  by  the  ukase  of  Alex 
ander,  who  also  prohibited  the  sale  in  the  market,  the 
separation  of  families,  and  connected  the  possession  of  the 
serf  with  that  of  a  corresponding  soil.  This  has  been  al 
ready  pointed  out.  It  was  done  in  the  short  epoch  of  that 
autocrat's  generosity,  the  brief  period  of  his  youthful 
feelings. 

He,  as  well  as  Nicholas  and  many  high-minded  nobles, 
wished  sincerely  and  may  wish  still,  to  find  a  clue  to  this 
labyrinth,  by  which  to  direct  themselves  in  an  attempt  at 
emancipation.  Nicholas  several  times  stirred  up  the  ques 
tion,  publishing  even  ukases  as  preliminary  essays  for  set 
tling  the  complicated  matter.  Some  accuse  him  of  bad 
faith,  and  of  trying  thus  to  become  popular  with  the  peo 
ple  and  crush  more  the  nobility.  But  this  is  not  in  his 
nature,  and  on  the  contrary,  in  these  last  years,  he  rather 
strengthened  the  position  of  the  nobles,  rendering  it 
more  inaccessible.  The:wish  for  the  peaceful  emancipation 
of  the  serfs  sprung  up  from  a  purer  motive.  He  very  well 
knows  that  the  solution  of  this  question  is  a  bloody  cloud 
suspended  over  the  future  of  the  empire,  and  of  the  dy 
nasty,  and  he  attempted  to  prevent  its  bursting  out,  giving 
to  it  a  more  quiet  issue,  and  thus  to  raise  for  himself  a 
"  monumentum  cere  perennius"  in  the  annals  of  humanity. 
But  now  the  better  inspiration  is  exhausted  and  extinct. 
Among  the  aristocracy,  above  all,  the  Wasiltschikoffs, 


216  RUSSIA    AS   IT    IS. 

owners  of  large  estates,  were  devoted,  sincere,  and  disin 
terested  partisans  of  emancipation.  Stimulated  by  them, 
the  body  of  the  nobility  of  the  government  of  Kursk 
petitioned  the  emperor,  who  to  this  effect,  published  an 
ukase ;  but  its  execution  met  with  insurmountable  diffi 
culties — and  it  remained  a  dead  law. 

However,  by  far  the  greatest  number  of  the  nobles, 
and  above  all  the  smaller  ones,  living  in  the  country  on 
their  estates,  are  violently  opposed  to  any  large  measure, 
and  curse  the  emperor  for  having  made  any  attempts,  and 
awakened  the  attention  and  the  feelings  of  the  peasantry, 
— for  having,  so  to  speak,  brought  the  question  again  before 
the  people.  Scattered  as  they  are,  they  are  afraid  to  be 
thus  surrounded  by  menacing  crowds.  To  it  must  be 
added  the  unavoidable  material  ruin  of  the  nobility,  which 
will  result  from  either  a  pacific  or  a  violent  emancipa 
tion. 

The  population  of  Russia  is  neither  spread  equally 
over  the  whole  region,  nor  has  it  yet  reached,  so  to 
say,  a  normal,  or  necessary  amount.  In  one  word, 
there  is  no  balance  between  the  forces  or  hands,  and  the 
quantity  of  the  soil.  Wages  differ  from  one  part,  nay, 
sometimes  from  one  county  to  another.  It  is  feared  by 
the  nobility  that  the  peasant  if  emancipated,  would  aban 
don  the  region  where  the  prices  of  produce  are  low  and 
wages  are  small,  or  where  the  soil  is  poor,  and  wander  to 
more  prosperous  sections.  Thus  the  lands  of  the  nobility 
would  become  deserted  and  nearly  uncultivated,  for  want 
of  hands  which  could  not  be  procured  for  insufficient 
wages.  Further,  the  serf  is  attached,  by  indissoluble  ties 
to  the  soil  which  his  ancestors  have  tilled  for  centuries, 
which  was  their  property  before  both  land  and  men  were 
enslaved.  The  government  and  that  part  of  the  nobility 
friendly  to  emancipation,  wish  that  by  a  possible  arrange- 


THE    PEASANTRY THE    SERFDOM.  217 

ment,  the  soil  now  possessed  and  used  by  the  serfs  form 
ing  their  special  homestead,  may  become  their  conditional 
property,  for  which  they  may  pay  a  rent,  releasing  them 
from  other  servitudes  and  statute  labors ;  or  that  to  be 
come  absolute  owners  of  a  homestead,  they  pay  its  value 
in  some  way,  in  successive  terms,  or  otherwise.  But  the 
peasantry,  the  serfs,  look  on  the  soil  on  which  they  live 
as  their  immediate  property ;  they  are,  so  to  speak,  one  and 
the  same  with  it.  Thus  in  the  most  cases  they  refuse 
emancipation  without  the  land,  saying :  that  the  soil 
ought  be  emancipated  in  common  with  them,  or  that  both 
would  remain  in  serfdom  awaiting  their  time.  But  such  a 
time  will  not  be  the  result  of  a  pacific  arrangement.  The 
nobility  will  never  come  to  such  terms,  will  never  give  up 
willingly  the  land  and  the  men.  The  peasant  refuses  a 
partial  boon  or  concession.  For  the  peasantry,  emanci 
pation  very  logically  corresponds  with  complete,  absolute 
independence  of  the  nobility,  with  the  entire  secession 
of  all  now  existing  and  prevailing  ties,  nay,  with  the  exter 
mination  of  the  ancient  master.  Thus,  where  the  rumors 
of  emancipation  have  penetrated  more  distinctly  to  the  peo 
ple,  where  the  matter  was  only  slightly  mutually  spoken  of, 
it  resulted  in  violent  attacks  on  the  dwor  and  on  the  dwor- 
ianstwo,  nobility.  For  the  present,  the  affair  is  pending. 
The  nobility  are  in  a  state  of  frightful  suspense.  Many  of 
them  wish  to  give  up  to  the  government  their  estates,  land 
and  serfs,  for  a  suitable  rent.  The  serf  waits  until  he 
can  take  the  whole  as  an  inherent  right,  and  not  get  it  as 
a  favor  distilled  in  scanty  drops.  And  the  serfs  are  right. 
Any  liberties,  political  or  social  franchises,  conceded  by 
compact  or  granted  as  a  favor,  are  no  liberties  at  all.  They 
have  no  security,  they  have  the  odor  of  condescension  on 
the  part  of  the  donor,  and  when  accepted,  they  are  a  re 
cognition  of  his  lawful  superiority.  Liberty,  to  have  its 
10 


218  RUSSIA    AS    IT   IS. 

full  worth,  to  be  really  beneficial  and  valuable,  ought  to 
put  every  body  on  an  equal  footing,  and  thus  be  conquered 
as  an  innate  property  and  not  humbly  received  as  a  grant. 
It  will  be  shown  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  what  is  the  posi 
tion  of  the  non-slavic  races  inhabiting  or  scattered  over 
Russia.  A  cruel  anomaly  exists  between  the  fate  of 
the  real  autochtone  —  or  native,  and  the  conquerors ; 
the  intruders  and  the  subdued.  The  master  is  slave  and 
serf,  because  even  the  free  or  crown  peasant  enjoys  less 
freedom  than  the  stranger  or  the  annexed.  Compara 
tively,  the  German,  the  Finn,  the  Calmuck,  Tartar,  Basch- 
kir,  the  Samojede,  the  Lap,  the  Georgian,  etc.,  are  more 
free  than  the  peasants — the  serfs  ;  as  the  German  burgher 
of  the  Baltic  provinces,  of  Poland,  or  any  of  the  not  an 
cient  Russian  lands,  is  superior  in  privileges  and  fran 
chises  to  the  Russian  burgher.  The  genuine  people  in  all 
their  divisions  have  less  individuality,  less  space  for  free 
activity,  than  has  the  nomad  wandering  on  the  soil  con 
quered  by  the  former.  If  the  peasants,  the  serfs,  shall  ever 
take  a  cruel  revenge,  let  it  not  be  forgotten,  that  nothing, 
absolutely  nothing  is  done  for  their  intellectual,  moral  and 
social  melioration.  If  the  burghers  and  the  free  peasants 
find  insurmountable  difficulties, in  acquiring  education, 
the  serf  is  wholly  abandoned,  forgotten,  and  cannot  parti 
cipate  even  in  the  wretched  resources  allowed  to  the 
others.  His  education  depends  wholly  upon  the  master, 
and  the  latter  does  not  much  trouble  himself  about  the 
matter.  Thus  if  a  serf  can  read  and  write,  it  is  rather 
the  result  of  an  accident,  and  not  a  common  occurrence 
among  the  millions  of  serfs.  But  there  is  in  Russia  a 
ministry  called  pompously  that  of  the  national  popular 
enlightenment,  narodnago  proswieschtschenia, —  what  a 
heartless  irony ! 


RIGHTS   OF    ALIENS    AND    STRANGERS.  219 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE  RIGHTS  OF  ALIENS  AND  STRANGERS. 

THE  Russian  language,  as  well  as  the  Russian  law,  have 
two  different  and  distinct  denominations  for  all  those  not 
belonging  to  the  national  stock.  Thus  inorodets  signifies 
those  born  in  the  empire,  or  tribes  residing  from  time  imme 
morial  in  its  different  regions,  but  belonging  to  a  different 
race  and  stock,  and  generally  not  of  any  Christian  re 
ligion.  [This  word  is  composed  from  ino,  different,  and 
rod,  stock,  family.] 

Inostranets  designates  those  born  in  a  foreign  coun 
try,  this  being  the  signification  of  the  word  strana. 

Among  the  inorodtsy  are  reckoned  the  Tartars  and 
other  Mahometans,  the  aborigines  of  Siberia,  the  Kirgiz 
of  Siberia,  the  islanders  of  the  American  Aleutic  Archi 
pelago,  the  Samoieds  in  the  county  of  Archangel,  the 
Laps,  and  the  nomads  of  Asia  and  the  Caucasian  territory, 
the  Calmucks,  the  Baschkirs,  and  the  Jews. 

The  aborigines  of  Siberia  form  three  classes:  those 
settled  in  fixed  dwellings  and  regions  5  the  nomads,  or  those 
having  flocks  of  cattle ;  and  the  erratic  clans,  living  by 
hunting  and  fishing ;  these  last  inhabit  the  north-eastern 
part  of  Asia.  All  of  them  are  free,  can  never  be  subject 
ed  to  serfdom,  and  are  exempted  from  military  service. 


220  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

They  can  enter  any  corporation  of  free  peasants,  or  burghers, 
and  become  inscribed  in  any  one  of  the  guilds,  according  to 
their  choice. 

They  are  ruled  by  their  own  chiefs,  elective  or  hered 
itary,  according  to  their  special  custom  transmitted  from 
old  times.  These  chiefs  receive  a  small  salary  from  the 
government. 

The  hereditary  chiefs  preserve  all  their  hereditary  titles 
and  distinctions,  but  they  cannot  enjoy  the  general  privi 
leges  of  the  nobility,  except  by  a  special  grant.  They  are 
nearly  all  ruled  by  their  traditional  customs  and  laws. 
They  pay  to  the  crown  a  certain  tribute  in  kind.  They 
can  carry  on  every  species  of  trade,  with  the  single  excep 
tion  of  selling  liquors. 

The  Kirgiz  have  the  privileges  of  free  men.  They 
can  own  landed  property  and  serfs  if  inherited,  but  can 
not  make  or  buy  new  ones,  under  forfeiture  and  severe 
penalties. 

The  Islanders  are  administered  by  the  American  Trading 
Company.  They  do  not  pay  any  tribute  whatever  lo  the 
government,  nor  has  the  Company  the  right  to  collect  any 
for  its  benefit.  Their  service  consists  in  hunting  and 
fishing  for  the  Company,  which  feeds  and  clothes  them,  pay 
ing  them  a  small  remuneration  for  the  produce  of  the 
sport.  This  service  is  obligatory  for  three  years  for  each 
male  ;  then  they  can  fish  and  hunt  on  their  own  account, 
but  the  Company  has  the  exclusive  right  to  buy  the  pro 
duce  thereof. 

The  Samoieds  of  Archangel,  the  Laps,  etc.,  are  orga 
nized  and  have  the  same  rights  as  the  erratic  tribes.  No 
Russian  can  settle  on  the  lands  occupied  by  them. 

The  nomads  in  Asia  and  in  the  Caucasian  territory 
own  vast  tracts  of  land  for  their  own  use,  and  no  one 
else  can  settle  on  them,  or  use  them  as  pasturage  for 
cattle. 


RIGHTS    OF    ALIENS    AND    STRANGERS.  221 

The  Calmucks  centered  in  the  government  of  Astra- 
chan  and  the  Caucasian  territory,  are  divided  into  seven 
large  districts  or  Ulusy.  Their  lands  are  also  protected 
by  law  from  being  used  in  any  way  by  other  inhabitants 
or  tribes.  The  Calmuck  nobility,  called  nolons  and  zaie- 
sangs,  have  the  right  of  primogeniture,  and  their  real  estate 
cannot  be  divided.  If  they  enter  the  army  they  enjoy  the 
privileges  of  the  Russian  nobility. 

All  the  inorodtsy  enjoy  absolute  religious  liberty ;  in 
civil  matters  they  have  their  own  jurisdiction  as  well  as 
in  small  correctional  offences ;  in  criminal  ones  -they  have 
to  submit  to  the  general  laws  of  the  empire. 

All  the  nomads  of  Siberia  elect  their  boards,  elders, 
or  have  patriarchs  of  the  tribe.  They  elect  the  collectors 
of  the  taxes  or  of  the  tribute,  their  assistants,  the  scribes 
or  clerks.  The  elections  are  made  according  to  ancient 
prevailing  usages,  by  general  meetings,  or  by  families  or 
clans. 

Every  facility  is  accorded  to  nomads  to  become  fixed 
in  their  settlements  with  their  movable  property,  as  in 
herited  slaves,  cattle,  chattels,  and  to  form  rural  commu 
nities,  such  as  exist  in  Russia  Proper.  These  nomads  often 
possess  houses  and  gardens,  where  the  family  dwells,  while 
the  master  roves  with  the  cattle  on  the  pasturages.  The 
Tartars,  the  Wostiaks,  Baschkirs,  and  Mestscheraks,  Mord- 
wa,  Tschouwasche,  Tscheremyss,  Tepters,  Bobels,  and 
others  scattered  in  the  east  of  the  empire — some  inclosed 
by  Russian  population,  and  all  of  them  of  Finnic  or 
Ouralian  stock — when  living  in  villages  or  rural  communes 
have  the  rights  of  freemen,  Selskle  Obywatcli.  In  no 
manner,  nomad  or  settled,  can  they  be  made  serfs,  or  be 
deprived  of  their  property  of  any  kind.  The  Tartars  can 
make  contracts,  take  farms  or  estates  on  rent,  buy  or  sell 
their  own,  settle  where  they  please,  and  dispose  in  any 


222  RUSSIA    AS    IT   IS. 

way  of  their  persons,  as  well  as  of  their  personal  and  real 
estate. 

Mahometan  and  other  heathen  prisoners  of  war,  whose 
purchase  was  allowed  to  the  Scotch  colonists  in  the  Cau 
casian  territory,  cannot  be  resold  by  them  into  slavery. 
Those  bought  under  the  sixteenth  year  of  their  age,  obtain 
their  liberty  on  reaching  their  twenty-third  year.  Those 
bought  older  than  sixteen  remain  slaves  for  seven  years. 
They  have  the  right  to  buy  their  freedom  before  the  lapse 
of  these  seven  years,  for  the  legal  price  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty-six  dollars.  All  the  children  born  in  slavery  are 
free. 

The  aborigines  of  the  Caucasus,  of  Georgia,  and  the 
Armenians  are  governed  by  their  own  chiefs  as  the  other 
inorodtsy.  But  where  the  social  state  is  more  ordered 
and  fixed,  as,  for  example,  in  Georgia,  Russian  civil  and 
administrative  organization  begins  to  prevail,  still  having 
regard,  however,  to  local  laws,  customs,  and  manners. 
The  Caucasian  and  Trans-caucasian  nobility,  Christian, 
Mahometan,  or  Tartar,  are  all  of  them  put  on  an  equal 
footing  with  the  genuine  Russian  nobles. 

The  Jews  enjoy  perfect  religious  liberty.  They  are 
married  and  divorced  by  their  own  rabbis  and  according 
to  their  Jewish  laws.  In  all  other  civil  and  criminal  mat 
ters  they  are  subjected  to  the  ordinary  jurisprudence. 
All  their  judicial  signatures  must  be  made  in  the  Rus 
sian  language.  (The  Asiatic  inorodtsy  can  sign  such 
documents  in  their  special  idiom.)  The  Jews  can  send 
their  children  to  gymnasia,  academies,  and  universities, 
and  thus  they  enjoy  a  facility  refused  to  the  Russians  at 
large.  K 

The  Jews  principally  inhabit*  Lithuania,  White  Rus 
sia,  Little  Russia,  and  Odessa,  generally  in  those  regions 
which  anciently  formed  a  part  of  the  Polish  dominions, 


RIGHTS    01'    ALIENS    AND    STRANGERS.  223 

and  where  they  established  themselves  under  the  Polish  pro 
tectorate.  They  are  excluded  from  Russia  proper.  Their 
number  amounts  there  to  more  than  eight  hundred  thou 
sand.  Nearly  the  same  number  are  in  the  present  kingdom 
of  Poland.  They  are  likewise  very  numerous  in  Gallicia,  and 
the  dukedom  of  Posen,  both  parts  of  ancient  Poland.  It 
is  supposed  that  their  population  scattered  over  the  globe, 
amounts  to  some  nine  millions  ;  thus  Poland  possesses 
nearly  a  third  part  of  the  whole.  Ancient  Poland  was 
for  a  long  time  their  Paradise.  The  Polish  Jews  are  the 
most  dirty  and  filthy  of  all,  but  they  are  also  the  most 
learned  of  the  race,  and  most  of  the  schoolmasters  and 
Rabbis  in  Europe,  are  Polish  Jews. 

In  Russia,  that  is  where  they  were  found  at  the  time 
of  the  conquest,  they  can  own  houses  and  gardens.  But 
they  cannot  have  Christian  servants  in  their  houses, 
but  only  hire  them  for  daily  work,  as  well  as  for  fulfilling 
personal,  communal  and  governmental  servitudes.  They 
are  now  subjected  to  military  recruitment. 

A  Jew  who  receives  a  diploma  from  a  University,  or 
an  Academy  of  Arts,  has  the  right  to  petition  for  the 
privilege'of  a  personal  respectable  citizen.  Those  who 
become  Doctors,  can  become  hereditary  respectable  citi 
zens,  and  even  with  the  special  permission  of  the  sovereign, 
can  enter  civil  and  military  service.  Jews  can  be  teachers 
and  professors.  All  these  services  can  be  entered  upon, 
only  in  the  regions  inhabited  generally  by  them,  that  is 
in  the  so-called  western  counties.  Jews  entering  into 
service  there,  can  obtain  permission  to  sojourn  or  live  in 
the  capitals  and  the  countries  of  Russia  proper. 

Jews  can  become  agriculturists  on  crown  lands  as  welj 
as  on  private  ones.  In  this  last  case  they  do  not  become 
serfs.  Those  who  settle  as  agriculturists,  are,  for  a  cer 
tain  number  of  years,  exempted  from  military  recruitment. 


224  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

Jew  merchants,  burghers,  and  artisans,  in  places  where 
the  laws  allow  them  to  reside,  enjoy  all  the  privileges  ac 
corded  to  Russians  and  Christians  of  the  same  social  class. 
They  can  erect  shops  and  manufactories,  and  employ 
Christian  mechanics  and  workmen.  They  can  enter  the 
different  guilds.  They  can  neither  own  nor  rent  estates 
with  peasants  and  serfs  on  them,  nor  be  overseers  on  the 
like  lands,  nor  rent  the  obroks  or  other  payments  due  by 
the  peasants  to  the  nobility. 

The  Jews  are  specially  taxed.  For  the  distribution 
of  this  tax  and  its  regulation,  they  have  their  own  board 
called  cahal,  elected  by  themselves  and  responsible  to  the 
government.  They  participate  in  the  general  elections  for 
the  city  and  communal  functions,  and  if  they  master  the 
Russian  language  they  can  be  elected  to  any  one  of  them. 

Foreigners,  aliens  (inostrantsy),  are  the  subjects  of 
other  states,  who  become  Russians.  Children  born  to 
them  in  Russia  become  Russians  and  belong  to  that  class 
to  which  they  have  a  legitimate  right. 

A  woman,  being  a  Russian  subject,  marrying  a  for 
eigner,  follows  him  to  his  country.  But  by  thus  expatri 
ating  herself,  from  choice,  she  can  own  no  real  estate  in 
Russia,  and  ought  to  sell  the  same  in  the  course  of  the 
six  months  succeeding  her  leaving  her  fatherland.  She 
pays  a  tax  of  ten  per  cent,  on  the  capital  exported  by  her. 

All  foreigners  can  enter,  settle,  or  leave  Russia,  ac 
cording  to  certain  special  regulations  as  to  passports.  For 
eign  Jews,  however,  cannot  settle  in  Russia  and  become 
Russian  subjects. 

Foreigners  can,  in  some  cases,  enter  the  military  ser 
vice,  but  not  the  civil,  except  by  special  permission  of  the 
sovereign. 

Foreigners,  even  nobles  by  birth,  cannot  own  serfs,  pea 
sants,  and  villages  unless  by  special  permission  of  the 


RIGHTS    OF    ALIENS    AND    STRANGERS.  225 

sovereign.  But  they  can  own  houses  in  cities.  By  per 
mission,  gained  from  the  authority,  they  can  "be  teachers 
and  private  tutors. 

If  they  inherit  villages  and  serfs,  they  must  sell  them 
either  to  the  crown  or  to  individuals  who  may  lawfully 
own  such  property. 

A  foreigner,  naturalized  as  a  Russian  subject,  can  re 
nounce  this  subjection  and  leave  the  country,  but  he  is 
obliged  to  sell  his  real  property.  If  he  belongs  to  any 
of  the  corporations  subject  to  capitation,  on  abandoning 
it  he  has  to  pay  in  advance  the  amount  of  three  years'  tax, 
and  leave  the  country  in  the  course  of  a  year. 

Prisoners  of  war,  naturalized  and  married  to  Russian 
women,  returning  to  their  fatherland,  must  separate  them 
selves  from  wife  and  children,  these  not  being  allowed  to 
follow  them ;  and  before  they  abandon  their  family  they 
must  secure  for  it  the  means  of  .subsistence. 
10* 


226  RUSSIA    AS   IT   18. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE  COMMUNE. 

THE  communal  organization  is  deeply  intertwined  in  the  so 
cial  life  of  all  classes  of  the  Russian  people.  All  its  arti 
ficial  subdivisions,  nay,  the  differences  of  descent  and  race, 
unite  on  a  general  and  common  social  ground,  that  of 
communal  institutions.  Self-administration,  through  elec 
tions,  is  thus  a  general,  legal,  social  usage.  The  elective 
principle,  in  a  restricted  form  as  used  by  the  nobility, 
or  in  the  more  extensive  and  genuine  form  as  used  by  the 
other  classes  of  the  people,  forms  the  basis  and  the  cement 
of  the  organic  social  existence  of  the  whole. 

Neither  the  elective  franchise  as  used  by  the  nobility, 
nor  the  absolute  commune  existing  in  cities  and  rural  dis 
tricts,  is  originally  and  in  principle  a  gift  granted  by  a 
power  existing  out  of  or  above  the  nation.  It  is  a  right 
inherent  in  the  people,  and  by  far  more  ancient,  than  the 
accidental  and  temporary  growth  of  autocratic  power  in 
Russia.  The  nobility,  using  this  franchise  now,  have  but 
diverted  a  small  rivulet  from  the  original,  great,  popular 
stream ;  the  nobility  itself  every  where,  and  above  all  in 
Russia  and  in  the  whole  Slavic  family,  being  an  excres 
cence  and  not  a  fundamental  element  of  the  historical 
and  social  existence.  Thus  the  communal  life  is  not  a 


T.HE    COMMUNE.  227 

concession  made  by  any  aristocratic  or  monarchical  sove 
reignty.  It  was  not  a  lure  presented,  as  in  some  other 
countries,  by  such  authority  to  the  people,  when  in  some 
struggle  it  was  necessary  to  carry  the  masses  on  its  side. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into  minute  and  laborious 
dissertations,  based  on  abstract  reasoning  as  well  as  on 
history,  and  to  argue  the  question  of  priority  in  the  mode 
of  the  primitive  life  of  the  human  family,  between  the  so 
called  patriarchal  rule  and  the  communal  action  of  society 
in  its  cradle — the  one  being  the  type  of  monarchy,  abso 
lutism,  and  autocracy,  the  other  of  freedom  and  equality 
inherent  in  humanity.  It  would  be  a  rather  easy  task  to 
prove  to  those  who  believe  that  the  march  of  civilization 
or  progress  moves  in  a  circle,  passing  through  different 
stages  and  forms,  to  prove  that  as  in  such  a  case  the  process 
must  finish  where  it  began  :  that  therefore  the  social  start 
ing  point  was  not  patriarchal,  not  the  power  of  one  over 
some  or  over  many,  but  equality  in  association  of  those 
composing  the  first  family,  tribe,  city,  or  nation.  Our  be 
lief  is  that  there  can  be  no  well-founded  doubt  about  the 
social  character  of  the  original  starting  point,  and  that  the 
further  progress  of  our  race  is  infinite — in  every  direction 
— radiating  like  the  light,  and  not  confined  geographically, 
mentally  and  socially  to  the  direction  from  east  to  west,  as 
believed  religiously  by  some  pseudo-philosophers. 

Every  where  liberty  and  equality  were  certainly  an 
terior  to  the  supreme  power  of  one  man,  to  castes,  and  pri 
vileges.  The  most  striking  testimony  of  a  primitive  sin, 
or  fall,  may  be  found  in  the  successive  establishment  of 
social  oppression  by  patriarchs,  high  priests,  kings,  or  no 
bles — and  the  labor  of  the  redemption  may  be  looked  for 
in  the  uninterrupted  efforts  of  humanity  to  disentangle 
herself  from  their  clutches. 

In  relation  to  the  Slavic  race  and  family,  history  con* 


228  RUSSIA    AS   IT   IS. 

firms  the  above  proposition.  It  has  been  already  men 
tioned,  several  times,  that  among  the  primitive  Slavi,  from 
Novgorod  to  the  Danube  and  Cattaro,  there  are  no  traces 
of  any  privileged,  distinct  class  ;  that  their  principal  occu 
pation,  agriculture,  gathered  them  into  villages  or  large 
communities,  where  they  were  governed  by  elected  elders 
(starschiny)  or  chiefs.  In  this  state  were  the  Slavi  found 
at  the  first  dawn  of  history ;  thus,  therefore,  they  must  have 
lived  of  old,  during  the  long  period  that  is  called  ante-his 
torical.  If  the  Kimbri,  beyond  the  Palus  Meothides, 
and  those  of  the  Tauric  Chersonesus,  expelled  there 
from  by  the  Scythic  invasion,  were,  as  the  great  Goerres 
establishes,  of  a  Slavic  stock,  their  disastrous  discomfiture 
on  the  battle-field  ought  to  be  principally  attributed  to 
their  being  led  and  acting  under  separate  chiefs  (each 
tribe  or  community),  and  not  under  one  supreme  chief,  or 
king,  or  sovereign.  When  afterwards  Darius  crossed  the 
Danube  for  retaliation  on  the  Scythes  for  their  invasion 
of  Media  and  Asia  Minor,  and  the  Scythes  tried  to  call  to 
their  rescue  other  tribes  living  there,  Herodotus  does  not  say 
that  they  sent  their  messages  to  kings  or  chiefs,  but  men 
tions  only  the  names  of  the  tribes.  This  omission  author 
izes  us  to  presume  these  tribes,  undoubtedly  of  pure  Slavic 
and  not  of  Scythian  descent,  acted  and  answered  for  them 
selves,  and  not  through  an  omnipotent  chief,  whose  name, 
if  such  existed,  would  not  have  been  omitted  by  the  father 
of  history.  Undoubtedly,  therefore,  liberty  and  the  com 
mune,  the  organism  most  simple  and  most  congenial 
to  human  nature,  is  older  in  Kussia  than  princes  and  Czar- 
ism,  nobility  and  serfdom.  The  people  do  not  consider 
the  commune  as  a  grant  from  any  one,  but  as  a  right  trans 
mitted  from  antiquity,  through  successive  generations.  As 
an  evidence  that  it  is  so  we  may  take  the  vitality  of  the 
communal  usages  and  the  deep  roots  which  they  struck 


THE    COMMUNE.  229 

into  the  life  of  the  nation.  There  they  exist  by  their  own 
strength,  indestructible  by  their  most  deadly  enemies, 
slavery,  serfdom,  Czarism,  and  the  despotic  centralization  | 
and  thus  a  germ  was  preserved,  a  germ  full  of  promise 
for  the  future. 

Neither  was  the  communal  organism  borrowed  by  the 
Slavi  from  any  other  race  or  nation.  If  a  source  may  be 
traced  for  it,  this  source  is  the  nature  of  things,  and  from 
this  fountain-head  each  human  family  might  draw  it  for 
itself.  Admitting  even  that  the  father,  the  patriarch, 
may  have  been  its  first  chief,  naturally  his  power  de 
scended  equally  to  all  his  children,  brethren  among  them 
selves,  mutually  associated,  and  thus  originated  the  com 
mune.  It  is,  therefore,  the  absolute  property  and  attribute 
of  mankiffd,  as  association  is  its  most  natural  state.  Treach 
ery,  craftiness,  and  brutal  force  were  the  means  by  which 
man  was  subsequently  deprived  of  his  inherent  social  right. 

Those  who  take  the  Mosaic  records  for  indisputable 
historical  evidence  concerning  the  origin  of  man  and  so 
ciety,  find  there  that  monarchy  and  castes  originated  in 
the  revolt,  and  the  first  man  bending  others  under  his  will 
and  power ;  the  first  monarch,  was  Nimrod,  the  inventor  of 
murderous  weapons,  a  savage  hunter,  and  then  an  oppres 
sor  and  a  usurper. 

The  Slavi,  in  their  immense  plains,  appointed  by  nature 
and  climate  to  agriculture,  are  found  by  history  living  in 
villages,  that  is,  in  association,  and  not  on  separate  farms 
or  in  isolation,  as  were  most  of  the  German  tribes.  The 
same  mode  of  life  must  have  existed  before  the  histori 
cal  epoch,  and  prevailed  during  the  legendary  one.  Every 
where  history  meets  among  them  elective  chiefs  of  tribes, 
territories,  and  nations.  If  such  was  the  origin  of 
power  with  these  supreme  leaders,  it  follows,  logically, 
that  of  the  same  nature  was  that  of  chiefs  in  the  separate 


230  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

villages  and  communes,  where  they  were  elected  from 
among  the  members  of  the  community,  to  administer  but 
not  to  rule.  No  traces  were  there  of  hereditary  suprem 
acy.  When  general  history  shall  be  more  keenly  exam 
ined  and  understood,  and  when  a  pure,  philosophical  light 
shall  penetrate  more  and  more  deeply  its  recesses,  then  it 
will  come  out  distinctly  to  daylight,  that  the  greater 
number  of  dynasties,  oligarchies,  and  aristocracies  are  of 
secondary,  if  not  tertiary,  social  formation. 

The  Slavic  commune,  at  any  rate,  neither  is  nor  was 
borrowed  from  the  Germans,  no  more  in  the  legendary 
times  than  in  the  historical  ones.  The  existence  of  the 
Slavic  republics  of  Novgorod  and  Pskoff,  at  least  contem 
poraneous  to  any  positive,  organic  social  formation  among 
the  tribes  of  Germany,  and  thus  differing  in  their  essence 
from  any  found  there — this  existence  is  a  proof  of  the 
communal  institutions  being  of  an  intrinsic  domestic  growth. 
Further  :  the  Slavi  do  not  appear  any  where  in  history  to 
have  been  so  continually  moving,  roving,  and  wander 
ing,  as  were  nearly  all  the  German  tribes.  From  the  like 
mode  of  life  sprung  up  by  itself  the  necessity  of  chiefs  or 
kings,  their  retinue  or  companions,  and  thus  the  formation 
of  a  military  or  noble  caste.  The  Slavi  never  were  thus 
pushed  hither  and  thither.  From  the  time  of  their  immi 
gration  to  Europe,  as  an  Indo-European  branch  of  the 
human  family ;  or  from  the  Caucasus,  if  the  heights  of 
Armenia  were  its  cradle  and  nursery ;  or  whatever  theory 
may  be  adopted  concerning  the  origin  of  man,  since  his 
distribution  or  dissemination  over  the  earth,  the  Slavi  have 
always  occupied  one  and  the  same  region.  Subdued,  con 
quered,  by  other  tribes  and  nations,  whose  waves  over 
flowed  them  northward  and  westward,  their  toughness 
remained  indestructible,  rooted  as  they  were  in  the  soil 
and  in  their  villages.  It  is  more  natural  to  conclude  that 


THE    COMMUNE.  231 

the  Slavi,  who  instructed  the  G-ermans  in  agriculture,  if 
a  transmission  is  to  be  admitted,  transmitted  to  them  the 
notion  of  communal  organization. 

The  existing  Russia  has  thus,  in  her  bosom,  an  organic 
force,  alive  and  acting,  by  which  the  mass  of  the  people, 
however  abject  and  oppressed,  are  still  accustomed  to  take 
care  of  themselves.  For  the  eventualities  of  every  day's 
life,  a  city  or  a  rural  commune  is  able  to  take  counsel  and 
provide  for  itself,  without  the  necessity  of  the  spurious 
guardianship  of  the  supreme,  governing  power,  or  of  the 
privileged  classes,  hovering  over  it  like  birds  of  prey. 
Should  all  these  tutors  disappear,  or  be  driven  away 
together,  this  would  not  startle  the  population,  nor 
find  them  unawares,  or  unable  to  cope  with  the  new  emer 
gency.  Already  accustomed  to  administer  and  settle  their 
domestic  affairs  by  the  election  of  the  ablest,  the  people 
will  soon  get  accustomed  to  extend  the  practice,  and  find 
means  to  care  for  the  affairs  of  the  district,  the  county, 
and,  finally,  those  of  the  whole  nation.  In  an  area  of  ac 
tivity,  enlarged  through  self-consciousness  and  liberty,  the 
intellectual  powers  acquire  elasticity,  penetration,  and  com 
pass,  in  single  individuals  as  well  as  in  whole  masses. 

It  is  beyond  discussion,  and  does  not  require  any  argu 
mentative  proofs,  that  the  communal  organization  is,  for 
every  nation,  the  first  condition  of  practical,  political,  nay, 
even  of  social  liberty.  Only  within  its  existence  the  en 
joyment  of  an  orderly,  peaceful  liberty  is  possible.  The 
absence  or  the  utter  destruction  of  the  communal  order  in 
France,  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  its  destinies  are  thus 
thrown  into  the  arms  of  despotism.  The  people  there 
are  not  accustomed  to  decide  for  themselves  in  any,  the 
most  common  or  slightest,  occurrence.  Stating  and  prov 
ing  that  this  germ  exists  in  Russia,  and  what  deep  and  in 
destructible  roots  it  has  spread  there,  seems  sufficient  to 


232  RUSSIA    AS   IT    IS. 

justify  the  hope  that,  with  this  incentive,  the  liberation  of 
the  people  from  the  present  thraldom  is  within  reach  of 
possibility.  To-day  the  commune  is  still  the  corner-stone 
of  social  order  within  this  vast  empire.  It  is  a  finger 
post  to  the  future ;  in  due  time  it  will  become  its  keystone. 
Restricted,  cramped  now,  and  denationalized,  the  com 
mune  will  reconquer  its  normal  growth  and  vitality,  when 
the  Russian  soil  shall  become  moved  and  turned  over  by 
the  fructifying  share  of  revolution.  Then  what  is  now 
only  germ  will  shoot  out  to  a  mighty  social  structure.  All 
the  abnormal,  false,  and  artificial  restrictions,  preventing 
the  healthy  germination  of  the  seed,  will  dissolve,  die,  and 
fall  off;  the  inborn  elasticity  of  a  genuine  communal  order 
will  no  longer  encircle  small  and  lifeless  corporations,  but 
embrace  a  people,  and  give  space  and  air  to  the  culture 
and  practical  application  of  new  social  combinations ;  it 
will  be  a  potent  agency,  the  sword  as  well  as  the  law  for 
emancipation. 


EMANCIPATION.  233 


CHAPTER    XII. 

EMANCIPATION. 

The  deepest  ice  that  ever  froze, 
Can  only  o'er  the  surface  close ; 
The  living  stream  lies  quick  below, 
And  flows  and  cannot  cease  to  flow. 

BYBON. 

NOT  only  the  soil  and  the  serf,  but  the  whole  nation  gravi 
tates,  though  slowly,  towards  emancipation.  The  onward 
movement  of  so  large  a  mass,  with  such  complicated  inter 
nal  wheelwork — if  indiscernable  to  many  —  still  exists. 
The  preceding  chapters  have  given  an  outline  of  the  polit 
ical  and  social  compound  existing  in  Russia — a  mixture 
of  arbitrary  will  with  seeds  of  free  institutions.  Compli 
cated  to  the  utmost,  yet  possessing  the  normal  elements 
of  a  symmetrical  combination.  What  there  is  confused 
and  entangled  in  it,  is  a  result  of  the  artificial  working  of 
the  supreme  power  and  government ;  while  what  is  simple, 
uniform,  self-unfolding,  is  a  patrimony  of  the  people,  a 
product  of  its  ancient  social  life. 

Every  year,  as  well  as  every  new  extension,  adds  new 
complications  and  augments  the  intricacy.  New  entangle 
ments  pour  continually  out  of  the  autocratical  source. 
The  frames  encasing  a  society  with  so  minute  an  artificial 
ity  are  surfeited ;  they  overfill  and  crack,  grinding  merci- 


234  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

lessly  the  various  classes  of  the  nation.  From  among  the 
particles  into  "which  power  and  the  privileged  class  have 
shivered  the  people — the  greater  number,  like  the  edges 
of  a  bleeding  wound,  try  and  seek  to  reunite,  to  restore, 
to  reconquer  the  healthy  normal  state.  It  seems,  beyond 
any  human  possibility,  that  a  society  thus  artificially  built 
up  and  encircled,  could  secure  to  its  members — growing 
in  strength  and  in  vital  activity — the  necessary  air  and  all 
the  resources  of  a  free  and  undisturbed  existence.  In  the 
present  state  they  never  can  live  harmoniously  or  act  peace 
ably  by  the  side  of  each  other.  The  mass  forms  a  misshaped 
pyramid,  where  the  superposed  press  with  all  their  might 
on  those  below  ;  all  in  their  turn  being  pressed  down  by 
the  key-stone  of  this  anomalous  construction.  In  this, 
more  than  in  any  other  governmental  formation,  the 
action  of  the  government,  instead  of  being  beneficial — must 
be  oppressive.  Thus  conflicts,  continual  pulling  between 
the  various  classes,  and  with  the  government,  are  natural 
consequences.  Outbreaks  must  follow.  Whatever  may 
be  the  length  of  time  for  the  existence  of  such  a  structure, 
it  can  only  be  protracted  arduously,  though  without  hope 
for  its  stability. 

At  present  despotism  binds  Russia  awfully  in  its  ana 
conda  folds.  Strict  restraints,  called  laws,  twist  harshly 
around  all  the  various  members  of  the  political  whole, — of 
the  nation.  Such  a  state  cannot  last  for  ever,  nay,  not 
even  for  a  long  lapse  of  future  time  ;  more  especially  now, 
when  the  people  become  more  awake  to  self-consciousness, 
and  are  thus  wounded  to  the  quick  by  the  diverse  agen 
cies  that  oppress  and  grind  them. 

Whatever  may  be  the  future  revolution  of  Russia,  it 
will  bear  a  mark  of  its  own,  as  does  every  thing  connected 
with  this  people.  The  coming  revolution  will  pour  out 
from  within,  rather  than  be  a  result  of  any  outward  influ- 


• 

EMANCIPATION.  235 

ence  or  excitement.  To  say  that  an  affinity  of  aims  and 
aspirations  having  their  eternal  source  in  the  imprescrip 
tible  rights  of  human  nature,  shall  not  exist  in  Russia  in 
common  with  other  people  and  nations,  would  be  absurd. 
Other  more  positive  incentives  from  without  cannot  at  pre 
sent,  for  many  reasons,  penetrate  and  spread  among  the 
people.  But  the  nation  contains  fermenting  elements  in 
abundance,  and  their  ebullition  extends  and  becomes  daily 
more  intense. 

Russia  hovers  now  over  Europe,  luridly  clouding  the 
progress  of  emancipating  civilization.  It  seems  that  in  a 
twinkling  destructive  hurricanes  can  rend  the  air,  hurl 
upon  Europe,  extinguish  and  destroy  every  light,  strangle 
every  hope.  Such  suppositions  may  be  pushed  too  far  ; 
still  it  remains  incontestable  that  as  long  as  Russia  shall 
stand  there  menacingly,  instead  of  being  carried  on  by  the 
general  providential  current,  the  task  of  other  nations  will 
remain  difficult  to  the  utmost,  if  not  wholly  impossible. 
It  will  not  be  so  easy  for  Europe  to  fling  off  the  decayed 
crust  and  establish  new  and  invigorating  institutions : 
whether  they  be  of  limited  monarchy,  republican,  or  of  any 
higher  social  order. 

By  her  compactness  and  force,  Russia  powerfully  sup 
ports  retrograde  opposing  interests,  which  otherwise  ere 
long  would  have  to  breathe  their  last.  Every  where  do 
exist — and  will  exist  for  a  long  time — various  social  ele 
ments  tied  and  wedded  to  the  past.  Doomed  by  the  present, 
they  still  possess  strength  enough  from  their  traditional 
organization.  Common  danger  unites  them  in  opposition 
to  any  effort  of  disenthralment,  and  their  force  increases 
when  backed  by  such  a  vigorous  ally  as  they  now  find  in 
Russia.  These  breakers,  hidden  or  towering  over  the  sur 
face,  exist  every  where,  prompt  to  wreck  and  destroy  any 
generous  undertaking.  A  spontaneous  and  unanimous 


236  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

effort  of  Europe,  divided  thus  into  two  hostile  camps,  is 
not  easy  to  be  anticipated.  As  long  as  Russia  shall  side 
with  monarchs,  aristocrats  and  priests,  they  will  not  be 
hurled  out  of  their  seats  for  some  time  to  come. 

There  exists  a  very  dim  probability,  that  an  evolution, 
bringing  Russia  from  the  wrong  to  the  right  side,  can  be 
effected  in  such  a  short  period,  as  the  present  eagerly 
wishes  for ;  but  actual  sufferings  and  calamities,  however 
poignant,  count  scarcely  as  a  moment  in  the  great  run  of 
time.  The  human  mind  vibrates  in  Russia  as  elsewhere, 
though  at  present  not  with  equal  celerity.  Before  Russia 
shall  be  enabled  to  accomplish  her  internal  revolution, 
and  enter  broadly  the  apprenticeship  of  freedom, — she  must 
undergo  a  rather  long  process ;  passing  from  the  stage  of 
fermentation  to  that  of  mature  action,  and  then  only  will 
she  weigh  in  the  right  scale.  The  most  ardent  wishes  are 
powerless  to  accelerate  this  historical  momentum.  There 
are  certain  organic  laws  for  the  whole  creation,  regulating 
alike  the  material  or  physical  world,  and  the  higher  region 
of  mind  and  of  intellect ;  the  region  in  which  men,  nations, 
mankind  find  and  fulfil  the  conditions  of  their  existence. 
Some  of  these  laws  are  general,  others  special,  appropriate 
to  this  or  that  mental  or  physical  organism.  The  history 
of  the  world  is  pre-eminently  a  record  of  the  action,  of  the 
development  of  mankind  in  the  whole,  as  well  as  of  dis 
tinct  races,  nations,  nay  even  of  individuals,  under  the  in 
fluence  of  similar  various  laws  and  phenomena.  Russia 
as  a  nation,  as  a  people,  as  a  social  or  politic  body,  is  under 
their  action ;  her  history  has  some  common  characteristics 
with  that  of  other  nations,  again  differing  from  them  in 
some  respects.  Thus  she  remained  almost  entirely  untouch 
ed  by  the  mediaeval  element,  which  shaped  all  the  parts 
of  the  social  structure  in  the  West,  church  and  state, 
popes,  bishops,  kings,  barons,  burgesses  and  villeins.  But 


EMANCIPATION.  237 

under  the  Tartar  supremacy,  her  unity  was  wrought  out, 
nearly  in  the  same  way  as  that  of  France,  England,  or  as 
it  was  attempted  in  Italy. 

Louis  XI.,  some  of  the  Tudors,  Caesar  Borgia,  or  Phi 
lip  of  Spain  resemble,  in  more  than  one  respect,  some  of 
the  Grand  Dukes  of  Moscow.  This  unity — by  which 
alone  the  liberation  from  the  Tartars  could  have  been  ef 
fected — was  only  to  be  obtained  through  an  energetic  con 
centration  of  power  in  one  single  hand.  Thus  alone,  sim 
ultaneous  and  powerful  action  was  possible — and  thus 
originated  the  despotism  still  holding  Russia.  The  results 
obtained  by  such  an  agency  could  not  have  been  obtained 
by  any  other ;  what  once  was  effected  in  a  certain  way, 
could  not  happen  or  succeed  in  a  different  one.  It  is  use 
less  if  not  childish  to  quarrel  with  facts  and  with  the  past. 
What  once  took  place  bears  in  itself  the  evidence  of  its 
unavoidable  necessity,  or  else  it  would  not  have  happened 
at  all.  Events  and  results  once  -accomplished  could  not 
have  taken  a  different  turn.  It  is  therefore  of  no  avail 
to  speculate  how  a  past  event  was  to  have  come  out  differ 
ently.  Every  fact  and  every  form  which  existed  or  exists, 
was  or  is  necessary.  It  had  or  has  the  necessary  condi 
tions  of  its  existence  or  else  it  would  not  come  into  exist 
ence.  For  the  long  run,  nothing  can  subsist  by  the  sup 
port  of  material  or  brute  force ;  and  moreover  such  a  mo 
mentary  support  is  in  itself  a  proof  that  some  congenial 
combinations  supply  the  required  elements  of  strength. 
Terrible  phenomena  in  nature,  as  well  as  in  history,  are 
succeeded  by  others  more  bright  and  beneficial.  Thus 
Czarism  was  a  necessity  for  Russia.  It  condensed  the 
ejnpire,  moulded  it  into  a  unit  beyond  a  possibility  of  dis 
solution.  Its  violent  cohesive  action  will  cease,  but  the 
molecules  forming  the  body  will  henceforth  cohere.  In  this 
manner  united  Russia  arose  out  of  scattered  parts;  it  resist- 


238  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

ed  external  enemies  and  became  a  political  and  historical  in 
dividuality.  Czarism  has  accomplished  the  task  of  the  pio 
neer  towards  the  unfathomed  solitudes  of  Asia.  In  that 
direction,  where  it  is  the  destiny  of  Russia  to  act  and  to 
civilize,  Czarism  has  already  spread  broadcast  Russian 
seeds,  has  laid  down  or  prepared  foundations  for  the  future, 
and  it  has  in  all  directions  through  the  country  fulfilled 
the  often  cruel  but  unavoidably  necessary  task  of  en 
grafting  the  dominant  nationality  on  the  subdued  ones. 
Among  its  numerous  dark  sides  it  has  thus  some  that  are 
sunny,  or  at  least  consoling.  But  Czarism  has  nearly 
run  out  its  course;  it  has  fulfilled  its  terrible  mission. 
Whatever,  therefore,  may  be  its  external  show,  it  is  on  the 
wane  in  reality.  It  was  a  process  of  formation  which 
Russia  was  to  undergo  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  Slavic 
race.  Now  it  will  be  succeeded  by  another  more  congen 
ial  to  the  innate  character  and  life  of  the  people,  and  to  new 
external  and  internal  emergencies.  A  transition,  an  evo 
lution  is  to  be  effected.  It  is  already  taking  place  in  the 
conscience  of  the  people  ;  and  this  being  done,  it  will  break 
out,  come  to  light  and  become  a  palpable  fact. 

In  the  formation  of  our  planet,  epochs  of  creation 
succeeded  one  another.  Some  of  the  geological  revolu 
tions  breaking  forth  at  distant  intervals,  were  previously 
brewing  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  The  grander  and 
more  durable  formations  in  nature,  result,  however,  from 
agencies  and  forces  working  silently  but  uninterruptedly. 
The  slow  process  of  molecular  sediment  was  more  exten 
sive,  more  general  and  more  creative  than  any  other  in 
nature.  In  the  typical  formation  and  development  of  na 
tions  and  people,  the  slow  way  may,  after  all,  pro/e  to  be 
the  surest.  This  applies  to  Russia,  accused  to-day  of 
backwardness.  When  the  fluid  trickling  from  within  shall 
have  silently  penetrated  all  the  fibres  of  the  people,  then 


EMANCIPATION.  239 

to  complete  the  transformation  a  commotion,  if  necessary, 
will  most  deeply  shake  the  national  base.  All  that  is  old, 
worn  out,  decayed,  will  be  swept  away  and  engulfed, 
making  place  for  a  new  life.  Such  a  social  commotion  is 
imminent  for  Russia,  and  with  her  for  the  Slavi.  It  will 
at  once  be  the  more  beneficial  and  efficacious,  because  the 
more  it  will  be  the  manifestation  of  the  people*  It  will 
be  primogenial  in  their  history.  The  emancipation  of 
Russia  is  an  absolute  condition  of  the  emancipation  of 
Europe,  and  thus  of  the  future  harmonious  and  progres 
sive  activity  of  the  European  or  Christian  world.  Russia 
can  neither  be  conquered  nor  partitioned.  If  in  a  war 
successful  for  the  liberal  side,  Russian  armies  shall  be  re 
pelled,  the  permanent  danger  will  not  be  averted  for  ever, 
but  merely  hushed  for  a  rather  short  lapse  of  time.  The 
Slavic  race  must  participate  more  generally  in  the  Euro 
pean  movement  than  it  does  now,  being  represented  there 
by  partial  and  weak  and  insignificant  branches.  Without 
its  adhesion,  the  universal  wheelwork  can  never  turn  with 
ease  and  security.  Russia  alone  can  not  only  facilitate 
but  decide  the  peaceful  union  of  the  whole  race. 

And  besides,  how  difficult,  even  impossible  it  is  to  fix 
with  any  certainty  the  epoch  when  the  Russian  people  will 
break  and  throw  off"  the  shackles  now  maiming  them,  and 
join  in  the  work  of  liberty :  this  hour  once  arrived,  the 
Russian  people  will  very  likely  more  completely  carry 
out  the  task  of  renovation,  than  it  has  been  done  hitherto 
by  any  other  European  nation. 

Russia  is  almost  inaccessible  to  a  menacing  and  de 
structive  invasion ;  this  at  present  strengthens  the  power 
of  despotism ;  but  by  it  likewise  the  people  have  acquired 
a  conviction  and  faith  in  its  external  individuality,  it  has  an 
unshaken  national  self-reliance.  The  past,  and  its  histori 
cal  recollections,  teach  the  people  that  all  resistance  to 


240  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

invasions  and  the  conquests  of  others,  have  been  accomplish 
ed  by  the  nation  itself,  without  the  friendly  co-operation  or 
help  of  any  other  state,  and  this  during  long  centuries  and 
in  epochs  ominous  for  the  preservation  of  national  indepen 
dence. 

No  Russian  thinks  in  any  way  of  foreign  help  or  inter 
ference  in  what  he  does  or  may  undertake  at  home  or 
abroad.  Never  having  looked  for  the  assistance  or  assent 
of  others  when  once  at  work  at  home,  the  Russian  people 
will  not  anxiously  calculate  or  ponder  what  other  states 
or  neighbors  may  or  may  not  do.  Neither  their  political 
nor  material  welfare  depends  on  similar  combinations. 
This  mental  independence  will  secure  the  completeness 
of  any  internal  movement.  The  French  people,  at  the 
climax  of  the  great  revolution,  then  inspired  by  a  like 
feeling,  and  led  on  by  the  immortal  Convention,  accom 
plished  the  more  than  herculean  task  of  destroying  the 
past  at  home  and  of  resisting  combined  Europe.  The 
revolutionary  movements  of  1848,  opening  under  circum 
stances  incomparably  propitious,  stranded  in  a  short  time, 
principally  because  none  from  among  the  nations  involved 
in  them  dared  at  starting  what  they  ought  to  have  dared. 
They  hesitated,  cautiously  looking  about  on  each  other, 
losing  thus  a  precious  opportunity  of  success.  It  is  not 
given  to  any  mortal  to  accelerate  a  single  minute  on  the 
dial  of  time ;  but  when  the  hour  strikes,  when  the  chain 
bursts,  and  the  event  appears,  it  is  in  man's  power  to 
seize  upon  it,  and  turn  it  to  his  benefit.  This  was  missed 
in  1848,  and  there  lies  one  of  the  primordial  reasons  of 
the  apparently  inconceivable  failure.  The  supposition 
may  be  justified  that  the  Russian  people,  once  up,  will 
not  commit  the  same  blunder. 

Nor  did  the  masses  of  revolutionary  Europe  show  any 
confidence  in  themselves.  They  seemed  incapable  of  acting 


EMANCIPATION.  241 

without  the  guidance  of  leaders,  instead  of  acting  on  their 
own ;  impulse,  as  well  as  direction,  came  from  the  other 
strata  of  society.  fln  one  word,  the  masses  of  people  in 
Western  Europe,  both  in  small  affairs  and  in  ponderous 
events  showed  incapacity  of  spontaneous  self-action.  The 
representative  system  introduced  long  ago  in  some  states, 
for  instance  in  France,  but  restrictive  and  one-sided  in  its 
application,  did  not  really  penetrate  any  where  to  the  mass 
of  the  people.  The  French  people  are  more  tutored  and 
governed  in  most  matters  referring  to  internal  administra 
tion  than  the  Russian.  It  has  been  shown  in  the  pre 
ceding  chapters,  that  the  communal  system  leaves  in 
the  hands  of  the  people  the  internal  administration.  A 
new  emergency  will  find  them  capable  to  take  their  own 
counsel.  In  the  European  representative  system  the 
masses  have  neither  participated,  nor  were  they  represent 
ed.  Men  often  unknown  to  them  were  elected  to  represent 
interests  they  did  not  feel  and  wants  which  did  not  affect 
them.  The  system  was  not  interwoven  with  the  people 
or  evolved  from  their  life ;  it  inspired  no  confidence,  and 
rendered  them  indifferent  to  its  restriction  or  even  aboli 
tion.  The  European  revolutions  of  the  latter  epoch  have 
not  been  the  general  work  of  the  masses.  The  impulse  was 
mostly  given  by  the  so-called  civilized  strata,  most  of  them 
wishing  some  little  ameliorations  and  not  great  fundamen 
tal  reforms.  Nowhere  was  there  an  aim  at  eradicating 
the  social  evils  which  crushed  the  people  proper.  The 
movements  originated  with  politicians,  system-mongers, 
theoreticians,  learned  professors,  as  in  Germany,  who  ap 
pealed  to  the  popular  force  to  carry  through  their  own 
special  schemes,  rather  than  to  account  for  the  immediate 
necessities  and  claims  of  the  people.  Thus  old  abuses 
lecame  continued  under  new  names;  the  masses  relapsed, 
and  submitted  quietly  to  the  reaction,  returned  to  the  old 
11 


242  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

yoke,  and  lost  again  for  the  moment  the  confidence  in  any 
attempt  of  reform.  Tired  and  exhausted,  they  seem  not 
to  have  any  faith  in  the  future,  used  up  and  ruined  as 
they  are  by  unsuccessful  and  oft-reiterated  efforts. 

In  Russia  the^social  upheaving  will  come  from  below. 
The  real  people  will  rise,  stirred  up,  awakened  by  the 
consciousness  of  their  imprescriptible  rights.  They  will  act 
for  themselves.  The  revolution  will  be  at  once  social  and 
not  merely  political.  There  will  be  no  class  to  turn  the 
common  efforts  to  its  own  especial  benefit,  and  there  will 
not  appear  those  locust-like  swarms  of  old  respectabilities, 
political  speculators, — that  curse  of  European  revolutions. 
The  people,  the  mass,  will  find  and  give  its  sacramental 
word,  it  will  find  the  solution  for  all  emergencies.  In 
Russia  neither  the  people,  nor  even  any  class  now  above 
it,  are  entangled  in,  encumbered  with  any  social  or  political 
formulas.  This  is  one  of  the  boons  for  the  future,  derived 
from  the  now  all-crushing,  all-levelling,  all-stifling  and 
destroying  despotism.  Common  original  reason  will  be 
enabled  to  act  freely.  The  Russian,  unacquainted  with 
any  political  systems  or  theories  of  foreign  growth  or  elu- 
cubration,  will  not  lose  time  and  generations  in  experi 
mental  essays  of  application.  Nobody  will  look  for  pre 
cedents  to  imitate  them.  Nothing  will  fetter  the  extant 
home-materials.  In  Russia  the  number  acquainted  with 
theories  of  a  mitigated  monarchy,  of  the  equilibrium  of 
three  powers,  id  est,  of  a  government  in  government,  and 
of  other  fanciful  unrealities, — is  small,  insignificant,  and 
scarcely  worth  mentioning.  Such  individuals  are  in  no 
condition  whatever  to  exercise  any,  even  the  smallest,  in 
fluence.  These  fallacious  theories  have  no  currency  in 
Russia,  with  the  exception  of  few,  very  few  nobles. 

This  social  commotion  will  crush  to  atoms  the  artifi 
cial  structure  now  pressing  on  the  people ;  despotism,  pri- 


EMANCIPATION.  243 

vilege,  Czar  and  nobility  will  be  overrun  by  the  same 
destructive  lava;  and  with  them  will  disappear  their 
accessories.  Nothing  will  be  done  by  halves,  that  mode 
being  repulsive  to  the  national  character,  and  nowhere 
known  in  the  history  of  Russia. 

The  people  and  its  communal  organism  will  alone 
remain  standing,  when  every  thing  else  is  prostrated, 
pulverized.  This  primitive  organism  will  cement  and 
keep  together  the  new  self-unfolding  society.  Not  the 
tension  of  despotism,  but  easy  and  elastic  free  action 
will  unite  the  vast  country.  It  has  been  pointed  out  that 
no  real  demarcation  separates  the  people,  the  peasants 
from  the  burghers,  or  from  the  so-called  middle  class. 
A  still  less  separation  of  tendencies  and  interests  will  be 
effected,  when,  by  combined  and  mutual  efforts,  the  com 
mon  enemies  shall  have  been  swept  away.  The  condition 
of  the  Russian  people  differs  from  that  of  any  other  coun 
try  in  Europe,  even  from  Switzerland.  There,  when  by 
mutual  efforts  the  patriciate  and  nobility  were  over 
thrown,  the  struggle  for  power  began  between  the  arro 
gant  middle  classes  and  the  people  of  the  country,  against 
which  finally  nobility  and  burghers  joined  together.  Noth 
ing  like  this  could  ever  happen  in  Russia,  as  both  bur 
ghers  and  peasants  mix  intimately,  forming  a  compact 
whole :  the  people.  Once  running  on  the  revolutionary 
track,  it  will  be  easy  for  them  to  plant  real  democracy, 
and  self-government,  being  already  partly  more  accustomed 
to  it  than  other  nations  of  Europe,  which  are  kept  more 
rigorously  in  the  swaddling  bands  of  administrative  cen 
tralization,  than  the  Russians. 

The  embryo  commune  existing  now  through  Russia, 
will  advance  with  equal  steps  with  the  revolution,  extend 
,.:;d  spread  out  to  a  general  republican  net,  embracing  the 
whole  state.  The  revolution  will  not  begin  in  cities,  but 


244  RUSSIA    AS   IT    IS. 

in  the  country,  resembling  that  now  going  on  in  China ; 
the  flag  of  emancipation  will  be  raised  by  the  strong  hands 
of  the  peasantry.  Thus  again  will  take  place  the  reverse 
of  what  generally  occurs  in  Europe.  An  efficacious  revo 
lution  in  Russia  must  originate  in  rural  districts,  in  vil 
lages  among  the  serfs  ;  and  there  alone  it  will  originate. 
Contrary  to  the  progress  and  development  of  all  other 
revolutions,  the  rural  communes,  instead  of  being  new  off 
shoots  for  the  elementary  political  education  of  the  masses, 
will  form  exclusively  the  fountains  and  the  sources  of  a  new 
organism.  Each  commune  already  existing  will  extend 
its  action  and  influence  in  continually  widening  circles,  all 
gravitating  towards  one  and  the  same  object,  towards 
emancipation.  Thus  they  will  form  one  great  national 
family.  It  is  the  only  possible,  because  the  only  natural 
course.  A  great  number  of  serfs  are  already  partially 
organized  into  communes,  or  at  least  surrounded  by  those 
of  the  crown  peasantry,  which  either  they  will  join,  or 
they  will  form  new  ones,  immediately  after  the  destruction 
of  the  masters.  It  will  be  as  easy  for  the  wolost  (canton) 
to  elect  members  known  personally,  and  fit  for  a  general 
council  or  administration,  as  it  is  now  to  choose  the  elders, 
the  golowa  (head)  and  other  boards.  This  work  once  ac 
complished,  only  then,  and  not  before  hand,  theoreticians 
will  come  forward  to  co-operate  and  give  it  the  required 
finish.  Their  task  will  be  eminently  facilitated,  finding 
materials  already  vigorous,  instead  of  being  obliged  to  in 
vent  them,  and  to  teach  their  adaptation  and  handling,  to 
the  people.  The  plain  question  will  be,  not  to  introduce 
a  new  unwonted  social  form,  but  to  harmonize  the  parts 
and  facilitate  the  working  of  an  already  existing  one. 

u  Si  licet  exemplis  in  parvo  grandibus  uti^  the  fathers 
of  the  American  republic  found  on  their  path  many  diffi 
culties  cleared  away  by  the  pre-existence  of  communal  or- 


EMANCIPATION.  245 

ganization.  Thus,  when  the  inevitable  revolution  in  Rus 
sia  shall  rise  from  the  deep  upon  the  national  horizon,  its 
thoroughness  and  rapidity  will  compensate  for  its  tardi 
ness.  Every  sign  points  to  the  approach  of  such  a  mo 
ment,  to  such  a  commotion  and  explosion  as  shall  surprise 
the  world,  alike  by  its  strength  and  by  a  peculiar  char 
acter  of  its  own.  The  originality  of  the  people  will  hold 
out  in  this  new  emergency,  as  it  asserted  itself  in  the  past, 
in  various  terrible  complications  and  catastrophes.  Not 
to  say  that  influence  from  without  must  be  ineffectual 
on  Russia,  the  contact  with  the  civilized  world  may  con 
tribute,  by  a  natural  and  inevitable  friction,  to  set  fire  to  the 
accumulated  elements.  But  this  contact  works  there  dif 
ferently  from  its  action  in  other  nations.  The  press  or 
writings  are  not  the  channels,  they  do  not  penetrate  to  the 
people ;  silent  personal  observation  supplies  them  al 
ready.  As  was  mentioned  in  another  chapter,  the  hun 
dred  thousands  of  soldiers  led  abroad  by  the  autocrats,  re 
turn  home  so  many  propagators  of  a  better  state  of  things 
existing  in  the  countries  where  they  have  been.  This  was 
partly  the  case  after  the  occupation  of  France  in  18 16-' 17, 
and  will  be  the  result  of  the  invasion  of  Hungary,  when, 
as  in  Galicia,  in  Slovakia,  the  Russian  peasant-soldier  saw 
his  brother  peasant  of  the  same  stock  overawing  the  noble 
men,  and  through  the  election  of  deputies  participating  in 
the  affairs  of  state.  Even  the  absorption  of  Poland,  where  no 
serfdom  exists,  and  where  the  laboring  peasant  is  directly 
protected  by  the  government  against  the  nobleman — even 
this  must  act  as  a  fermenter  with  the  Russian  people.  Thus, 
in  the  long  run,  the  very  acts  and  undertakings  of  the 
Czars  will  serve  the  liberation  of  the  nation.  And  then 
there  are  periods  in  the  life  of  humanity,  when,  without 
any  direct  agency  and  material  communication,  a  general 
commotion  seizes  upon  all  minds — a  spiritual  chain  excites 


246  RUSSIA    AS   IT    IS. 

and  links  them  in  simultaneous  action,  in  spite  of  all  bar 
riers  raised  by  the  retrograde  spirit  of  the  dark.  Perhaps 
we  are  approaching  such  a  moment ;  at  any  rate,  not  only 
nature,  but  the  human  world  also  is  governed  by  laws  ruling 
the  whole  creation,  and  silly  would  be  an  attempt  to  pre 
vent  the  sunrise  or  the  advent  of  the  spring.  For  the 
spring  appears  at  its  appointed  time,  and  the  sun  rises 
at  his  eternally  appointed  hour,  unwelcome  to  those 
who  delight  in  darkness,  but  cheerfully  greeted  by  all  who 
love  and  bathe  in  his  light.  And  so  with  the  destinies  of 
Russia,  of  its  people.  For  a  long  time  the  bugbear  of 
civilization,  it  must,  in  its  turn,  enter  the  common  orbit. 
Then  the  Slavic  race,  whose  fate  is  inseparable  from 
that  of  Russia,  will  pass  under  the  command  of  the  im 
mortal  G-enius  of  Liberty.  Many  attempts  of  other 
nations,  failures  now,  shall  then  turn  out  successful  by 
the  participation  of  the  Russian  people.  Not  that  in  the 
onward  march  of  mankind  it  should  be  reserved  to  any  race 
or  nation  to  solve  the  problem,  to  complete  the  task,  and 
to  fulfil  alone  the  destinies  of  all.  Such  presumptuous  as 
sertions  are  results  of  feverish  imagination,  rather  than  of 
a  reflective  contemplation  of  the  history  of  our  race,  and 
of  the  laws  presiding  over  its  infinite  ascension.  The  pro 
ductions  of  mental  creation,  of  various  people,  conform  to 
the  characteristics  of  species  or  genera  in  the  world  of  na 
ture.  No  single  organic  being,  whether  a  plant  or  an  ani 
mal,  represents  the  complete  organism  of  the  whole  species. 
The  distinct  speciality  of  each  consists  in  the  fact,  that  in 
every  such  separate  being  there  is  but  one  particularity  of 
the  general  organism  pre-eminently  developed,  while  in 
another  the  same  remains  in  the  background,  sometimes 
even  wholly  disappears.  In  the  same  manner  a  production 
of  mind  or  intellect  in  a  single  people  cannot  possess  the 
high  and  general  perfection  whose  attainment  is  reserved 


EMANCIPATION.  247 

to  the  whole  human  race,  in  the  use  of  all  its  powers,  which 
are  never  T,  ithin  the  reach  of  a  single  branch,  nation,  or 
people. 

The  Slavic  race,  as  well  as  Russia,  have  nothing  to 
atone  for  in  good  or  evil.  This  is  true  of  all  other  na 
tions  more  or  less  advanced  in  progress  and  development. 
Every  people,  every  state  of  the  past,  as  well  as  those 
now  existing,  has  its  dark  as  well  as  its  sunny  days  ;  it 
has  moments  when  it  serves  the  cause  of  mankind  and 
its  eternal  rights ;  and  others  again,  when  by  its  in 
stitutions  and  acts,  under  the  pressure  of  unavoidable 
events,  of  transient,  if  not  permanent,  causes — it  has  trod 
den  down  and  defiles,  the  same  sacred  cause.  The 
succession  of  light  and  shadow,  the  mutual  action  of  good 
and  evil,  are  among  the  things  distributed  through  crea 
tion  ;  the  problem  is  to  restrain  the  one  and  to  extend  the 
other.  In  Russia  the  pernicious  action  of  despotism  has 
affected  the  national  character,  and  thus  there  are  many 
weeds  to  be  extirpated,  before  the  people  will  be  able  to 
assume  a  dignified  position  among  the  human  family.  But 
each  nation  has  such  spots  in  its  history,  in  its  character. 
It  is,  therefore,  narrow-minded,  and  betrays  a  want  of 
philosophical  judgment,  to  condemn  a  race  or  nation  as 
doomed  eternally  to  slavery,  subjection,  or  despotism,  to 
proclaim  it  damned  beyond  the  possibility  of  redemption. 
This,  however,  is  uttered  against  the  Slavi  and  the  Rus 
sian  people  by  many  wholly  unacquainted  with  their  char 
acter  or  history.  This  is  done  daily,  hourly,  in  similar 
respects,  all  over  the  globe. 

The  dark  and  gloomy  sides  will  successively  diminish 
in  Russia,  when  the  people  itself  will  come  to  daylight. 
Human  nature  and  human  institutions  are  purified  and 
washed  white  in  the  atmosphere  of  liberty ;  it  alone  con 
tributes  more  to  redeem,  lift  up,  and  ameliorate  men  and 


248  .         RUSSIA   AS   IT    IS. 

their  actions,  than  all  ethical  catechizing  under  slavery 
and  oppression.  The  human  mind  in  all  its  spheres  and 
attributes,  whether  in  abstract  speculation,  or  in  things 
relating  to  immediate  application  in  natural  or  in  social 
science — only  when  free  and  unshackled — rises  to  purer 
regions,  gives  solutions  for  ancient  and  past,  as  well  as  for 
new  phenomena.  Liberty  is  the  most  powerful  dynamic, 
both  in  the  spiritual  and  in  the  material  world.  When 
it  shall  penetrate  and  move  the  Slavic  race  and  Russia, 
then  the  lightning  of  animation  shall  flash  and  true  life 
begin.  The  national  spirit,  once  aroused,  will  grow  strong 
er  and  stronger ;  no  more  secluded,  contemptuous,  or  men 
acing  to  others,  but  elastic,  communicative,  and  susceptible 
of  higher  culture.  It  will  flow  in  a  pure  and  mighty  stream 
when  relieved  from  its  corrupting  inlets — works  of  des 
potism  and  of  privilege.  Emancipation,  evoking  a  new 
life,  will  strengthen  it  in  all  directions.  Then  only  will 
real  culture  and  civilization  begin.  Mind  and  intellect, 
inspired  by  freedom,  will  shape  out  and  improve  every 
object  within  their  reach.  New  mental  powers,  streaming 
broadly  from  the  whole  people,  and  not,  as  now,  from  some 
scanty  few,  will  transform  and  change  the  whole  aspect 
of  the  nation.  Then  only  reason  and  intellect  will  have  a 
signification,  fructifying  every  object  in  their  domain. 
Art,  literature,  science,  will  then  brightly  flourish.  Agri 
culture — that  aboriginal  property  of  the  Slavic  race, 
now  neglected,  and  generally  in  the  state  of  coarse  empi- 
^ricism — that  inexhaustible  source  of  wealth,  that  basis  of 
national  existence— agriculture,  will  become  an  art  and 
science,  when  the  soil  and  the  bondman  tilling  it,  yoked 
together  by  oppression,  but  united  in  fraternal  love — when 
both,  in  Russia  as  well  as  in  the  other  Slavic  regions,  shall 
become  disenthralled.  This  soil,  ploughed  by  a  freeman, 
sowed  by  a  free  hand,  will  yield  more  and  better  harvests 


EMANCIPATION.  249 

than  when  scratched  by  the  serf,  than  when  the  seeds 
thrown  in  reach  the  furrow  wrapped  in  the  curse  of  a  bent- 
down,  oppressed  creature. 

Industry,  with  its  unfathomed  domain,  can  only  pros 
per  in  the  air  of  liberty,  and  in  Russia  its  flowering  de 
pends  on  general  emancipation.  All  kinds  of  property 
must  be  accessible  to  every  body,  and  man  must  be  master 
of  his  time,  and  of  the  productions  of  his  intelligent  labor. 
It  has  been  proved  sufficiently  in  some  of  the  foregoing  chap 
ters,  that  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  exists  in  Russia. 
What  there  is  of  industry  now,  may  be  considered  as  a 
dim  foreboding  of  what  it  may  become,  when  liberated 
from  corporations,  official  guilds,  and  the  minute  inter 
ference  of  the  government.  From  the  stand  point  of 
political  economy,  the  real  interest  of  the  people  and  the 
prosperity  of  its  industry  depends  on  the  protective  prin 
ciple.  To  the  great  market  of  the  west,  Russia  exports 
raw  products  of  the  soil,  viz.  :  all  sorts  of  grains,  ashes, 
potash,  hemp,  linen,  raw  hides,  bristles,  etc. ;  four  fifths  at 
least  of  all  these  articles  coming  from  large  estates  owned 
exclusively  by  the  nobility.  The  imports  embrace  princi 
pally  articles  of  luxury  and  refinement,  for  the  use  of  the 
opulent  classes ;  the  tariff  forms  thus  the  sole  direct  taxa 
tion  paid  by  the  noblesse.  Home  industry  is  more  than 
sufficient  to  supply  all  the  wants  of  the  people,  and,  to  a 
great  extent,  those  of  the  burgesses  or  middle  classes. 
Asia,  opening  daily  more  and  more  its  markets  to  the  Rus 
sian  trade,  receives  principally  the  same  products  as  are 
consumed  by  the  great  home  market,  consisting  chiefly  in 
woollen  cloth  of  all  qualities,  ordinary  cotton  goods,  com 
mon  silks,  etc.  Emancipation,  raising  higher  the  national 
faculties  and  energies,  industry,  will  grow  powerfully  under 
its  shadow,  multiply  its  activity  to  the  infinite.  The  dull 
workshops,  filled  with  ignorant  serfs,  will  be  transform- 
11* 


250  RUSSIA    AS    It   IS. 

ed  into  illuminating  piles,  warming  the  intelligence ;  en* 
terprise  and  industry,  united  by  freedom,  will  attain  in 
Russia  the  lofty  position  which  belongs  to  them  in  the  de 
velopment  of  human  destinies.  When  the  national  mind 
shall  become  elevated,  purified  by  a  truly  progressive  and 
popular  education,  daily  life  will  brighten,  and  the  part 
which  the  Slavi  and  Russia  have  to  play  in  human  affairs, 
will  become  significant  and  noble. 


MANIFEST    DESTINY.  251 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

MANIFEST  DESTINY. 

THE  Slavic  race  with  Russia  its  mightiest  branch,  by  its 
geographical  position,  extends  in  an  uninterrupted  line 
over  the  greater  part  of  Europe,  covering  daily  with  its 
roots,  the  North  and  a  great  part  of  Central  Asia  more 
and  more.  This  long  chain  is  broken  by  no  nationality 
of  distinct  origin,  nor  indeed  by  any  state  whose  influence 
could  finally  become  dangerous  to  Russian  and  Slavic 
autonomy.  Uniformity  and  fraternity  of  language  strongly 
cement  the  whole,  as  the  dialects  and  idioms  clustering 
around  the  Russian  depend  rather  on  it,  being  insignifi 
cant  in  themselves,  and  at  any  rate  unable  to  influence  or 
disturb  the  process  of  fusion  continually  operating  through 
the  central  or  dominant  one.  Dominant  not  so  much  on 
account  of  its  being  the  oflieial  instrument  of  the  power, 
but  because  it  is  used  and  spoken  exclusively  by  the  peo 
ple  numerically  forming  a  great  compact  mass,  and  which 
alone  has  an  independent  national  life.  There  the  Rus 
sian  language  rises  like  a  mighty  tree  from  among  shrubs 
and  underwood,  overshadowing  them  all. 

Religious  unity,  still  one  of  the  great  cementing  ele-. 
ments  of  ancient  society  and  of  the  ancient  world,  binds 
together  not  only  the  genuine  population  of  Russia  but 


252  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

by  far  the  greater  mass  of  the  whole  Slavic  blood,  as  the 
Roman  Catholics  count  no  more  than  one  fourth  in  the 
whole  family,  and  western  Protestantism,  with  the  excep 
tion  of  a  few  nobles,  has  not  penetrated  unclpr  any  denomi 
nation  whatever,  any  where  among  the  Slavic  nations.  For 
those  attaching  a  special  worth  to  it,  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  the  Eastern  church  generally  allows  the  reading  of  the 
Bible  in  the  vernacular  language.  The  translation  for  the 
use  of  the  people  of  both  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament, 
is  older  in  the  Slavic  than  in  any  other  language  of  mod 
ern  Europe. 

The  soil  and  the  region  on  which  the  whole  race  is  im 
planted,  between  the  Adriatic  to  the  mouth  of  the  Amoor  or 
Shika,  emptying  into  the  Pacific — this  whole  space  is  rich  in 
all  the  climatic  varieties  of  fertile  productiveness  on  its  sur 
face,  and  with  inexhaustible  metallurgic  wealth  in  its  bowels. 
The  statistics,  whatever  may  be  their  fluctuations,  give 
the  number  of  the  whole  Slavic  groups  at  about  eighty 
millions,  of  which  Russia's  genuine  population  makes 
about  fifty-seven  or  fifty-eight  millions.  Add  to  it,  on  the 
Slavic  domain,  the  scattered  Roumans,  Letts,  Arnauts, 
Moldavians,  Armenians,  Greeks,  etc.,  numbering  between 
eight  and  ten  millions,  tribes  which  never  can  assert  or 
maintain  a  distinct  and  independent  nationality,  and  who 
are  bound  to  the  Slavic  by  the  conformity  of  creed,  and 
to  a  great  extent  by  that  of  customs  and  manners  of  daily 
life,  then  the  whole  Slavic  element  reaches  more  than 
ninety  millions.  By  the  natural  increase  of  population  of 
one  and  a  half  per  cent,  yearly,  this  mass  will  in  a  short 
time  nearly  approach  the  population  of  the  remainder  of 
Europe,  which  is  almost  over-populated ;  the  Slavic  region 
being,  on  the  contrary,  able  to  support  three  times  the  pre 
sent  number,  without  any  signs  of  surcharge. 

This  Slavic  and  Russian  colossus  solders  Northern 


MANIFEST    DESTINY.  253 

and  Central  Asia  with  Europe  ;  it  is  a  channel  to  convey 
in  the  future,  an  easy,  peaceable  intercourse,  furthering 
the  final  ends  of  civilization. 

Whether  a  higher  will  has  assigned  this  eminent  posi 
tion  to  this  race  from  the  time  of  the  first  and  primitive  peo 
pling  of  that  part  of  the  world,  or  it  was  directed  and  led 
there  by  the  successive  development  of  events  beyond 
the  reach  of  explanation :  there  it  is  indestructible  and 
unchangeable,  not  a  result  of  an  historical  accident ;  there 
fore  with  a  task  to  fulfil,  with  a  destiny  to  unfold.  How 
far,  then,  is  this  destiny  already  a  manifest  one  ? 

Manifest  destiny  of  a  nation,  a  lift  of  the  curtain  veil 
ing  its  future  !  This  axiom,  bearing  on  the  present  and 
future,  and  not  merely  an  explanation  of  a  past :  an  axiom 
for  life  and  not  for  the  definition  of  bygone  historical  relics ; 
was  for  the  first  time  boldly  uttered  by  the  great  vivid 
spirit  of  democratic  America !  And  no  wonder ;  only 
where  the  human  mind  and  intellect  pulsate  freely  and 
invigoratingly  through  the  whole  people,  where  all  act, 
think  and  participate  in  the  national  life ;  there  the  men 
tal  powers  acquire  the  elevation,  intensity  and  clearness 
necessary  to  cast  a  keen  look  into  the  coming  destinies  of 
a  nation  ;  to  unravel  in  the  dim  future  and  point  out  lumi 
nously  the  course  which  it  has  to  follow  for  the  good  of 
the  human  family.  Only  where  there  is  a  people  and  no 
classes,  where  education  and  all  gradations  of  life  are  freely 
accessible  to  all,  does  self- consciousness  kindle  in  every 
breast  the  lofty  feeling  of  being  a  man,  and  of  fully  enjoy 
ing  all  the  rights  of  man.  There  each  individual  aims 
to  ameliorate,  to  perfect,  in  one  word,  to  ascend  into  the 
higher  region  of  moral  civilization,  whose  pure  light 
radiates  over  the  whole  nation,  illuminates  the  path  open 
ing  into  the  future,  and  to  those  inspired  with  its  sacred 
principles,  points  out  moral  duties  and  obligations  as  well 


254  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

as  lands  and  regions  where  to  carry  them,  and  to  implant 
these  precious  seeds  for  the  benefit  of  the  human  race. 

This  is  the  flash  of  revelation.  But  aside  from  it,  by 
the  slow  but  uninterrupted  working  of  science  and  reflec 
tion  or  of  philosophy,  the  sanctuary  containing  in  its  re 
cesses  the  destinies  of  nations  can  now  be  more  easily 
approached  than  it  could  have  been  in  times  closing  behind 
us,  and  its  secrets  become  at  least  partly  deciphered  and 
manifest  to  the  eye  of  the  mind.  Almost  every  scientific 
sphere  brightens  more  and  more;  discoveries  widening 
continually,  set  all  knowledge  on  more  firm  and  fixed 
bases.  Keason  more  matured  and  clear  illuminates  the 
thorny  path  of  researches  in  the  regions  of  matter,  as  well 
as  in  those  where  lay  heaped  up  by  uncounted  centuries, 
the  annals  of  nations  engraved  by  the  burin  of  time.  Our 
epoch  recasts  history.  The  past  is  better  appreciated 
at  its  real  value ;  without  a  mean  and  humiliating  wor 
ship,  and  without  presumption  trampling  down  all.  From 
the  work  partially  accomplished  by  preceding  ages,  by  vari 
ous  states  and  peoples,  from  the  extent  and  the  brightness 
of  the  track  left  by  them  on  the  orbit  of  civilization,  it  is 
possible  to  draw  more  positive  conclusions  as  to  the  future 
of  the  existing  nations.  Thus  the  past  is  now  better  un 
derstood  and  explained  ;  the  purified  reason — that  high 
and  exclusive  attribute  and  instrumentality  of  the  mind — 
is  enabled  to  assign  with  less  difficulty  the  positions,  and 
to  outline  the  future  signification  and  destiny  of  a  race,  a 
nation,  a  people. 

Civilization  is  now  laid  on  broader  foundations.  It 
enters  the  epoch  where  every  science  combines  more 
and  more  with  the  daily  life,  and  thus  the  horizon  before 
individuals  as  well  as  before  nations,  extends  and  clears 
up ;  the  activity  of  the  mind  and  of  the  intellect  becomes 
daily  more  enlarged  and  easier ;  material  ameliorations, 


MANIFEST    DESTINY.  255 

inventions,  and  their  large  applications  in  subduing  nature 
and  her  elements — reducing  time  and  space  through  navi 
gation,  railroads  and  lightning-like  communications  :  in 
one  word,  all  the  powers  of  action  on  the  material  crea 
tion  immensely  augmented,  serve  not  only  to  master  and 
utilize  the  material  world :  they  likewise  eminently  con 
tribute  to  smooth  away  the  various  difficulties  in  the  re 
gion  of  thought  and  of  reflection.  They  put  easier  and 
more  various  objects  within  the  reach  of  the  mind,  thus 
enabling  it  to  vary  its  observations  and  researches,  to  as 
certain  more  precisely  by  comparison  and  combination 
the  value  of  notions  and  ideas,  to  discern  better,  to  find 
out  more  clear  and  positive  analogies,  to  operate  in  a 
broader  and  clearer  space — without  groping  painfully  on 
the  way :  and  therefore  to  deduce  more  positive  conclu 
sions,  and  establish  laws  strictly  harmonizing  with  the 
world  of  facts.  With  them  are  closely  connected  the  des 
tinies  of  nations,  which  thus  for  the  eye  of  reason  are  no 
more  a  book  with  seven  seals. 

Whatever  misty  exhalations  may  still  cloud  the  beacon 
of  pure  and  impartial  reason,  it  is  incontestable  that  its 
light  penetrates  more  keenly,  and  illuminates  more  dis 
tinctly  our  epoch,  and  our  generation.  We  understand 
ourselves  better  than  our  forefathers  did,  and  the  past  like 
wise  is  no  longer  for  us  a  dark  and  inextricable  labyrinth. 
Centuries  and  centuries  elapsed  before  one  of  the  greatest 
historical  events  became  understood  and  explained.  It 
is,  by  many  called  the  providential  appearance  of  the 
races  and  tribes  which  crushed  the  decayed  ancient  or  Ro 
man  world,  with  its  worn-out,  exhausted  refinement,  rather 
than  vivid  civilization,  with  its  narrow  notions  and  ideas 
in  relation  to  men,  void  of  any  higher  spark  and  conscious 
ness  of  humanity.  Now  we  understand  that  in  this  man 
ner  alone  a  new  light  could  have  been  kindled ;  and  for 


256  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

the  most  active  and  intelligent  part  of  the  whole  human 
race  a  new  element  was  prepared  through  Christian  civili 
zation.  Our  century  has  explained  this  enigma;  a  cen 
tury  which,  inheriting  the  sufferings,  the  mental  efforts 
and  labors  and  the  rays  glimmering  through  the  preced 
ing  ones,  begins  to  transform  into  a  social  fact,  what  by 
the  past  was  scarcely  conceived  as  a  vision. 

The  eternal  aim  towards  which  mankind  gravitate 
becomes  more  distinct  and  perceptible,  and  therefore  the 
destinies  of  special  nations,  peoples  and  states  show  more 
visibly.  If  for  the  ancient  notion  of  individualism,  ego 
tism  and  exclusiveness,  Christianity  substituted  at  first 
theoretically  the  conception  of  humanity,  we  enter  the 
era  when  this  conception,  from  a  theological  abstraction, 
will  become  the  source  and  the  spirit  of  a  new  law,  of  a 
new  order.  Association  will  no  longer  be  only  a  practice 
in  religious  worship  and  prayers ;  no  more  will  it  be  con 
fined  within  the  walls  of  a  church,  considered  at  best 
but  an  abstract  spiritual  bond  :  it  will  become  the  corner 
stone  of  every  future  social  edifice.  It  will  go  forth  into 
the  world  and  rule  it.  Further,  the  two  great  human  and 
progressive  phenomena  marking  the  setting  of  the  last 
century ;  the  French  social  revolution,  and  the  political 
emancipation  of  America,  are  the  first  great  and  positive 
results  of  the  application  of  what  must  be  called  the  Chris 
tian  doctrine.  Its  essence  is  love,  fraternity  or  fraternal 
accord,  equality  as  was  thought  once  in  abstract,  or  be 
fore  God.  But  love,  fraternal  accord,  can  only  exist  and 
flourish  in  the  atmosphere  of  liberty,  which  thus  becomes 
the  soul  of  Christian  civilization.  Equality  before  God 
includes  logically  equality  among  men  in  their  mutual  re 
lations,  and  before  their  laws.  However,  how  dim  a 
light  did  all  these  primordial  rays  of  Christianity,  form 
ing  its  only  and  exclusive  revelation,  throw  on  the  first 


MANIFEST    DESTINY.  257 

vacillating  path  of  nations,  collecting  under  its  sign.  For 
centuries  and  centuries  the  pure  Christian  conception  was 
misunderstood,  misrepresented,  denied,  and  distorted,  often 
faithlessly,  by  doctors,  philosophers,  moralists,  religious 
and  ethical  teachers  and  preachers ;  most  generally  applied 
by  them,  ad  usum  Delphini,  or  in  behalf  of  the  strongest, 
the  oppressor,  the  enslaver,  against  the  feeble,  the  oppressed, 
the  enslaved.  The  real  human,  Christian  essence,  even  now 
is  scarcely  beginning  to  be  considered  as  the  source  of  a 
positive  social  order  and  organization.  The  past  cannot 
be  eliminated  at  once ;  its  influence  is  perceptible,  and  in 
many  ways  it  asserts  its  right,  usurping  on  the  present. 
For  all  this,  however,  the  past  is  undermined ;  the  new 
light  penetrates,  its  rays  begin  to  warm  the  mind,  and 
soon  nations  and  people,  will  grow  and  develop  under 
their  generous  and  reinvigorating  action.  Those  who  for 
the  present  lead  the  march  of  the  whole  human  race,  the 
European  races,  true  representatives  of  humanity,  will 
before  long  act  in  harmony  with  its  purer  and  loftier 
tendencies.  Selfishness  and  hostility  will  begin  to  melt 
and  disappear  from  their  hearts,  as  well  as  from  their  ac 
tions,  before  the  dawn  of  fraternal  concord.  If  this 
concord  is  not  active,  if  it  does  not  regulate  human  affairs 
in  general,  still  its  time  approaches,  in  proportion  as  the 
comprehension  of  destinies  brightens  and  becomes  more 
manifest.  The  impediments,  the  counteracting  forces 
of  darkness,  are  the  so-called  governments,  the  keepers 
and  bearers  of  power  ;  the  kings,  and  in  an  absolute  mean 
ing  the  superior  social  classes,  be  they  called  divines,  expe 
rienced  councillors,  aristocracies  of  various  kinds  and  dis 
tinctions,  rising  above  the  generality  by  some  kind  of  privi 
lege,  are  here  and  there  eager  to  carve  out  or  get  a  new  pri 
vilege.  It  is  principally  these  who  rend  asunder  nations 
and  peoples,  otherwise  destined  to  move  harmoniously  and 


258  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

in  peace  in  the  orbit  of  modern  civilization.  By  their 
ministry  and  interference,  past  falsehoods  are  made  the 
plea  for  new  ones.  The  natural  tendency  of  men  is  to 
associate,  to  exchange  peaceably  intellectual  as  well  as 
material  products.  For  this  reason,  all  liigh  discoveries, 
the  results  of  any  labor  of  the  mind,  the  world-illumi 
nating  lightnings  of  genius,  become  at  once  the  property 
not  of  the  creator  or  inventor,  not  of  the  community  or 
nation  amidst  which  the  inventor  dwells,  but  of  the 
whole  human  family,  who  hail  in  him  a  common  benefac 
tor,  a  general  light.  He  is  for  all  as  the  sun  rising,  giv 
ing  life  to  the  whole  creation.  Not  envy,  jealousy,  and 
eternal  conflict,  are  the  final  destinies  of  our  race ;  the  time 
is  at  hand  when  fraternity  will  be  no  more  an  evanescent 
phenomenon.  Soon  people  and  nations  will  conceive  and 
understand,  that  they  form  a  general  brotherhood,  where 
each  has  a  task  more  or  less  difficult  to  accomplish,  a  more 
or  less  heavy  burden  to  carry;  thus  all  will  contribute 
to  raise  the  great  enlightning  pile,  to  co-operate  to  the 
general  welfare  of  the  human  family. 

Moreover  the  positions  either  usurped  or  formed  by 
historical  events  and  accidents,  still  prevail  and  fetter 
the  people — but  their  hours  are  counted.  Their  exist 
ence  is  solely  that  of  a  barren  fact,  like  a  corpse  without 
a  soul,  like  a  centenary  oak,  rotten  and  decayed,  in  the 
primitive  forest — no  more  shooting  out  fresh  leaves  and 
buds — standing  there  until  a  tornado  finally  overthrows 
it.  It  no  longer  draws  new  invigorating  juices  through 
the  withered  roots.  In  the  same  manner,  the  rulers,  and 
the  artificial  superiorities  of  the  European  world,  have  no 
roots  in  the  feelings  or  in  the  voluntary  and  spontaneous 
adhesion  of  the  masses.  Their  existence  has  no  moral  basis 
in  national  sentiments,  nor  does  it  derive  any  vitality 
therefrom.  And  through  the  whole  of  history ;  what  has 


MANIFEST   DESTINY.  259 

become  extinct  as  an  idea  inspiring  a  nation  or  a  people, 
has  disappeared  after  a  longer  or  shorter  time,  and  dis 
appeared  finally  from  the  world.  The  manifest  destiny  of 
all  such  excrescences  is  to  perish. 

The  great,  harmonious  combination  of  aims  and  ten 
dencies  in  which  consists  the  future,  can  alone  be  realized 
in  liberty,  based  on  equality ;  in  one  word,  in  a  real,  gen 
uine  democracy.  Thus  it  is  a  manifest  destiny,  that 
democracies  are  to  spread  and  form  an  electric  chain  over 
all  regions  where  European,  Christian  civilization  is  al 
ready  implanted.  Then  only  will  brutal  force  begin  suc 
cessively  to  disappear,  and  peace  and  order,  right  and  jus 
tice  to  prevail.  Whatever  may  be  said  to  the  contrary,  there 
has  been  more  uprightness,  honesty  and  patriotism  among 
the  imperfect  democracies  hitherto  known  in  history,  than 
under  any  other  form  of  government.  Not  the  democracy  of 
Athens,  but  the  Spartan  aristocracy  was  accessible  to  the 
gold  of  the  great  king  at  Susa,  and  conspired  against  Greek 
autonomy  and  independence.  That  democracy  fought 
against  the  Spartans,  introduced  into  the  heart  of  the  city 
by  the  oligarchs  and  aristocrats ;  it  backed  Demosthenes 
against  Philip,  and  fought  with  Philopoemen.  The  aristo 
cratic  and  elegant  Xenophon,  sees  with  indifference,  if  not 
with  applause,  the  ruin  of  his  native  Athens,  and  extols  Spar 
ta  and  the  royal  Agesilaus,  scarcely  mentioning  the  patriotic 
Pelopidas,  the  great,  immortal,  democratic  Epaminondas. 
Not  the  plebs  but  the  patricians  of  Rome  were  accessible 
to  the  gold  of  the  Numidian  kings.  The  Guelfs,  or  the 
popular  party  of  the  Italian  republics,  combated  all  for 
eign  interference,  and  the  supremacy  of  the  German  empe 
rors,  invoked  and  introduced  into  the  country  by  the  Ghib- 
ellins  the  pure  aristocrats  of  Italy.  Savanarola  corrupted 
not  the  Florentine  republic,  but  the  Medici,  the  Pitti,  the 


260  RUSSIA    AS    IT   IS. 

G-uicciardini.  Phidias,  and  Michael  Angelo  belonged  to  the 
Demos,  and  are  democratic  produces.  Not  the  democracy  or 
the  French  people  saluted  cheeringly  the  invaders  of  1814, 
or  in  1815  speechified  redundantly  when  great  actions  were 
needed.  Not  the  Demos  of  Paris  raised  the  price  of  stocks 
on  the  exchange,  after  the  national  disaster  at  Waterloo. 
The  people  mourned ;  noblesse,  priesthood  and  bourgeoisie 
radiated  with  joy,  in  their  servility  to  the  foreign  masters 
and  invaders.  Every  where  the  people,  the  Demos  fought 
for  the  country,  the  upper  classes  submitted  or  betrayed  it. 
History  teems  with  the  like  evidences,  and  to  close  them : 
Christ  belonged  to  the  Demos ;  his  words  swayed  the  mul 
titude.  The  rude,  poor,  unlettered  fishermen  of  Genesa- 
reth,  heard  his  words  with  their  hearts ;  the  common  peo 
ple  listened  gladly  and  followed  him. 

As  a  lamp  when  going  out  throws  its  strongest  light, 
so  old,  withered  notions,  destined  to  disappear,  seem  to 
act  more  strongly,  and  as  at  the  present  moment  to  win 
the  upper  hand  over  the  bright  hopes  and  generous  expec 
tations  spreading  through  and  penetrating  the  masses. 
Ancient  prejudices  of  race  are  not  to  last  for  ever ;  hatred, 
jealousy  of  nation  against  nation,  fostered  by  the  personal 
interests  of  the  few,  will  give  way.  All  these  recurrences 
of  absolutism,  oppression,  and  the  temporarily  apparent 
submission  to  them  of  the  European  world,  are  so  many 
forebodings  of  the  new  era — are  the  last  flashings  of  the 
dying  lamp.  The  oppressors,  the  privileged,  the  drivers 
or  masters  of  society,  have  no  faith  in  themselves,  in  their 
own  vitality :  they  fear  and  doubt  the  necessity  of  their 
social  existence,  already  doubted  and  contested  by  the 
reason  of  the  masses ;  and  the  fear,  the  doubt,  in  itself 
helps  to  impair  their  strength.  Every  where  the  contin 
ual  and  widening  deflection  from  these  solitary  pillars  of 
the  past  is  clearly  visible.  Fraternity  and  solidarity  are 


MANIFEST    DESTINY.  261 

ideas  already  sinking  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  conscious 
ness  of  the  people,  and  the  time  must  come  when  they  will 
be  established  social  facts ;  their  advent  is  the  manifest 
destiny  of  humanity. 

The  destinies  of  the  European  world  are  not  limited 
to  that  part  of  the  globe,  but  have  already  received  a  sig 
nal  manifestation  in  America,  the  historical  offspring  of 
Europe,  and  the  loftiest  social  application  of  the  European 
— the  Christian  idea.  Thus  what  is  here  already  a  life, 
what  inspires,  and  morally  and  socially  elevates  millions 
and  millions,  must  react  on  the  old  world,  and  re  invigorate 
it  sooner  or  later.  Europe  must  have,  for  her  corner 
stone,  the  same  absolute  social  principle,  whatever  may 
be  the  form  by  which  it  will  be  asserted  or  shaped  out. 
Again,  the  destinies  of  Europe  cannot  take  a  higher  flight, 
if  a  part,  a  preponderating  branch,  shall  stand  apart  in 
gloomy  and  hostile  isolation ;  the  whole  must  ascend  to 
gether.  The  Russian  people  are  now  in  this  isolated  posi 
tion  ;  if  therefore  a  purer  light  is  to  beam  over  the  West, 
and  evoke  there  a  new  and  fresh  life,  the  Russians  and 
Slavi  must  likewise  be  penetrated  and  warmed  by  its  rays. 

It  has  become  very  common  of  late  to  compare  the 
growth  of  America  with  that  of  Russia ;  to  look  for  a  simi 
litude  in  their  development  and  progress ;  and  finally,  to 
divide  the  future  of  the  two  hemispheres  between  these 
two  ascending  states.  As  far  as  it  concerns  the  rude, 
material,  geographical  extension  over  unpeopled  regions 
or  decayed  countries,  or  the  power  which  compactness 
of  population  must  necessarily  exercise  over  less  peopled 
and  weaker  neighbors  ;  and  further,  regarding  and  compa 
ring  the  growth  of  internal,  material  resources  in  exten 
sive  regions,  scarcely  yet  touched  or  opened  by  the  share 
of  cultivating  labor  or  industry  ;  the  comparison  may  have 
some  plausibility  on  its  face,  but  there  ends  the  similitude. 


262  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

At  the  first  and  superficial  look,  both  of  them  seein  to  be 
new-comers  among  the  community  of  states.  But  Russia 
is  old  as  well  as  new ;  she  represents  an  old  historical  ele 
ment,  which  for  uncounted  centuries,  has  prevailed  and  gen 
erally  established  the  great  phenomena  of  the  old  world, 
that  is,  the  element  of  race.  America  is  new,  not  only  as 
an  historical  appearance,  but  likewise  as  the  realization  of 
a  higher,  nay,  the  highest  conception,  that  of  humanity, 
blended  and  melted  together  without  distinction  of  de 
scent,  creed,  and  origin.  Thus  America  represents  the 
concrete  of  the  human  family,  Russia  only  one  of  its  mem 
bers  ;  and  thus  what  Russia  represents  in  history  is  infe 
rior  to  what  is  revealed  by  America.  No  further  analogy 
can  be  found  existing  between  the  two  except  in  the  thor 
oughly  opposite  characteristics  of  two  extremes.  America 
is  the  light,  and  Russia  the  darkness ;  the  one  is  life,  the 
other  inertia,  depending  on  the  will  of  one.  Russia  is 
saddled  by  despotism,  that  old  inheritance  of  the  East  and 
of  heathenism ;  America  initiates  history  and  humanity  into 
a  new  era — which  a  century  ago  was  looked  on  as  an  Uto 
pia — constructing  a  social  order  on  the  foundations  of 
equality  and  liberty,  realizing  in  a  broad  manner  the  sole 
principle  of  social  truth.  The  one  raises  the  broken-down, 
the  degraded  by  oppression  and  misery,  restoring  to  him  the 
enjoyment  of  right  and  the  dignity  of  man ;  the  other,  if 
she  does  not  introduce  slavery  and  serfdom  in  her  con 
quests,  subjects  them  to  an  all-crushing,  all-levelling  des 
potism  ;  both  being  accursed  twin  brothers.  In  America 
real  progress  rules ;  in  Russia  there  prevails  a  sham-imi 
tation  of  progress.  In  America  every  object,  social,  mate 
rial,  or  from  the  realm  of  mind,  already  receives,  or  will  re 
ceive  in  due  time,  a  more  correct  and  enlarged  exposition. 
The  study  of  man  will  be  better  and  more  fully  developed. 
His  nature,  the  real  play  of  his  faculties,  passions,  and  feel- 


MANIFEST    DESTINY.  263 

ings  will  be  better  observed,  examined,  understood,  and 
explained  than  has  yet  been  done  by  psychologists,  meta 
physicians,  and  anthropologists.  Henceforth  man  can  be 
a  subject  of  observation  in  his  true  element,  in  his  exclu 
sively  congenial  atmosphere,  in  that  of  full,  real,  daily  en 
joyed  liberty  and  equality.  Hitherto,  for  all  such  studies 
and  observations,  a  kind  of  abstract  being  has  been  con 
structed,  set  out  with  speculative  attributes ;  this  abstract 
very  generally  differing  from  the  man  of  common  daily 
life,  from  the  mass,  from  humanity.  Higher  moral  science 
must  use  a  criterion  realizable  in  imagination,  never  in 
actual  life  ;  liberty  became  transformed  into  a  mental  and 
spiritual  faculty,  instead  of  being  laid  down  as  the  exclu 
sive  life-giving  source  for  the  human  race.  Rational,  po 
sitive  equality  was  wholly  overlooked  or  banished  in  the 
ory  and  practice  from  all  human  relations.  Thus  one  mis 
representation  generated  another,  and  from  it  sprang  the 
scientific  division  of  society  in  three  principal  classes  or 
strata  :  the  toilers,  workers,  or  supporters  of  the  others  ; 
the  central,  the  scientific,  teaching  class,  or  priestcraft ; 
and  the  fighters,  the  defenders,  or  rulers.  Science,  by 
elaborate  argument,  consecrated  the  work  of  violence  and 
oppression.  And  if  the  human  reason  and  conscience 
sometimes  raised  their  voice  against  the  like  falsehoods, 
not  only  theology,  but  unfortunately  philosophy  recog 
nized  these  divisions  as  forming  the  true  basis  of  social 
relations.  Thus  a  mystical  expounder  of  history,  like  the 
fiery  Groerres,  as  well  as  Hegel  the  greatest  logical  metaphy 
sician,  both  of  our  epoch,  concurred  in  adopting  the  above 
view,  not  to  speak  of  many  other  writers  of  all  nations. 
They  forgot  that  if  the  discoveries  and  rules  of  physiolo 
gical  anatomy  apply  to  the  whole  race,  psychology  and  an 
thropology,  to  be  of  any  real  worth,  ought  not  to  deal  with 
ideal  types,  but  with  concrete,  large,  every-day  realities. 


264  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

All  these  absurd  incumbrances  disappear  successfully  in 
America,  where  man  stands  in  his  real  nature.* 

Two  opposite  axioms,  equally  truthful,  cannot  be  de 
duced  from  one  and  the  same  principle  ;  there  is  only  one 
right  line  among  millions  of  deflections  ;  in  the  same  man 
ner,  there  can  exist  only  one  way  and  one  law  for  real 
grandeur  and  progress ;  and  a  nation  deprived  of  self-con 
sciousness  and  of  the  intellectual  manifestation  of  individu 
ality,  cannot  move  on  the  real  and  right  track.  Civilization 
has  there  neither  deep  roots  in  the  people,  nor  does  its 
light  radiate  freely  in  all  directions ;  it  is  rather  like  a 
will-o'-the-wisp,  erring  unsteadily  on  the  surface.  In  Amer 
ica  the  individuality  of  every  one  is  raised  to  the  dignity 
of  social  truth ;  in  Russia  individuality  is  a  fault,  some 
times  a  crime.  Every  thing  is  implanted  artificially,  or 
as  the  result  of  bru^e  force.  In  Russia,  a  sickly  unreal 
ity,  resulting  from  convulsive  efforts  of  despotism,  com 
presses  the  inward  national  vitality  ;  in  America,  reason 
shoots  off  freely  in  all  practicable  radii,  every  thing  rises, 
grows,  and  unfolds  itself,  germinating  from  an  inborn,  vital 
force.  In  Russia,  as  yet,  one  absorbs  in  himself  the  life, 
the  activity  of  the  whole  nation ;  in  America,  every  one  and 
all  act  and  live  according  to  their  own  will,  propensities, 
and  impulses.  In  Russia,  the  government  is  the  soul  and 
the  life,  it  is  the  exclusive  medium -for  the  respiration  of 
millions ;  in  America,  there  exists  nowhere  a  government 
according  to  the  ancient  meaning  of  this  word.  It  is  an 
association  of  freemen,  cemented  by  the  principle  of  equal 
ity.  Every  individual  is  a  type  of  humanity,  his  rights 
are  equal  to  those  of  every  other,  and  thus  the  rights  of 
men  form  the  corner-stone  of  the  association,  the  govern- 

*  Any  philosophical  appreciation  whatever  of  America,  can 
only  be  applied  to  the  free  Stateg. 


MANIFEST    DESTINY.  265 

ment  being  only  a  delegation  to  attend  to  its  various  busi 
ness.  The  holders  of  the  reins  of  government  in  Russia, 
nay,  in  the  whole  of  Europe,  look  down  on  nations  as  on 
creatures  existing  for  their  pleasure,  on  which  they  prey 
with  more  or  less  ferocity.  Here  the  government  is  only 
partly  invested  with  a  power,  whose  completeness  and 
source  resides  with  every  member  of  the  association.  In 
Russia,  the  sword  of  Damocles  is  suspended  over  the  Czar, 
as  well  as  over  the  whole  social  order  rj  every  new  day  of 
the  existence  of  America  is  brighter  than  the  past  one,  is 
marked  by  a  material  as  well  as  by  a  social  and  moral  im 
provement  and^,scension.  There  we  see  a  master  or  driver 
of  millions  ;  here  millions  of  independent,  intellectual,  free 
ly-moving  beings.  Here  the  legislator  is  the  people ;  there 
the  law  is  the  result  of  the  will  of  one,  often  of  his  whim. 
In  the  self-consciousness,  in  the  self-reliance  of  each  indi 
vidual,  is  founded  the  greatness  of  America ;  in  Russia 
an  order  from  the  government  is  the  only  life-inspiring 
agency.  The  government  in  Russia,  as  in  the  whole  of 
the  old  world,  is  obliged  to  take  a  minute  care  of  the  pros 
perity  of  its  subjects,  as  of  a  hot-house  plant;  here  it 
grows  freely  and  prospers  in  the  air — in  an  atmosphere 
loaded  with  liberty,  in  the  social  soil  of  equality.  There 
from  intelligence,  energy,  elasticity,  self-consciousness, 
and  self-reliance,  pour  into  the  individual,  and  to  them 
exclusively  is  due  the  prosperity  so  envied  by  the  govern 
ments  of  the  older  hemisphere.  Not  in  physical  condi 
tions,  not  in  geographical  position  is  the  arcanum  of  this 
wonder — the  like  conditions,  and  some  others  even  more 
fully  acting  and  developed,  exist  in  other  countries  and 
regions;  but  the  all-powerful  source  thereof  is  equality 
and  liberty  limited  by  reason  or  its  laws.  Those  believing 
in  the  interference  with  human  affairs,  or  in  their  benedic 
tion  from  above,  can  find  a  palpable  manifestation  thereof  in 
12 

k 


266  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

the  prosperity  of  America,  because  she  alone  is  true  to  the 
eternal  laws  and  conditions  of  the  existence  of  human  na. 
ture.  Nothing  is  checked  and  depressed  here  by  artificial 
barriers  5  free  will  and  free  action  have  full  play.  But  every 
thing  is  hampered,  circumscribed,  restricted  in  Russia,  as 
every  where  else ;  and  these  restrictions  are  a  curse 
continued  through  centuries.  Thus  while  other  countries 
move  rapidly  towards  a  dreadful  cataclysm,  America  has 
before  her  an  immense  and  bright  horizon ;  and  if  some 
clouds  may  be  visible  on  it,  they  never  can  extend  to  a  war 
of  elements,  to  social  tornadoes  like  those  hovering  over 
Europe.  America  is  thickly  thronged  with  humanity ; 
Russia  is  as  yet  peopled  by  docile  tools.  Russia  has  some 
tint  of  superficial  varnish  and  polish ;  America  bears  in  its 
womb  a  true  human  civilization.  Of  this  no  superficial  re 
finement  forms  the  criterion  ;  no  fastidious  culture  prevail 
ing  among  some  few  privileged  ones ;  not  even  the  high  lit 
erary  and  artistical  creations  of  a  few  men  of  genius  consti 
tute  the  primordial  aims  of  civilization,  or  are  its  real  fruits, 
but  the  rights  of  all  asserted,  recognized,  respected.  When 
this  is  obtained,  refinement,  culture,  delicacy  of  taste,  arts, 
will  follow  and  flourish,  completing  and  adorning  the  health 
ful  society.  In  saloons  or  palaces,  in  sumptuous  dwell 
ings,  the  European,  and  above  all  the  Russian  civilization 
is  confined;  the  American  blossoms  in  district  schools 
spread  over  the  country,  in  townships,  villages,  and  ham 
lets,  accessible  to  every  body,  even  the  poorest,  and  where 
many  a  European,  besotted  by  kings,  nobles,  and  priest 
craft,  is  aroused,  and  feels  the  amaurosis  dissolve  from  his 
mind's  eyes.  These  are  some  among  the  agencies  at  work 
for  the  manifest  destiny  of  America,  but  nowhere  existing 
in  Russia.  The  accidental  conformity  in  some  material, 
and  secondary  respects,  cannot  and  ought  not  to  be  taken 
as  a  revelation  of  equal  and  corresponding  destinies. 


MANIFEST    DESTINY.  267 

America's  manifest  destiny,  as  felt  and  proclaimed  by 
her  people,  is  to  extend  around  her  the  reinvigorating  in 
stitutions  of  which  she  is  the  focus ;  to  teach  and  implant 
farther  and  farther  the  principle  of  self-government  with 
the  free  and  alone  supreme  action  of  law ;  in  one  word 
to  continue  the  work  of  the  emancipation  of  man,  restor; 
ing  him  every  where  to  his  inborn  rights  and  dignity. 
Therefore  her  future  extension  ought  to  harmonize  with 
the  broad  and  luminous  principle  in  which  she  initiates 
history.  America  should  attract  by  the  power  of  example, 
— and,  daily  extending  the  gulf  which  separates  her  from 
the  past,  she  should  no  more  recur  to,  or  use,  violence 
and  invasion  as  means  of  propaganda.  If  unprovoked, 
America  ought  for  ever  to  renounce  brutal  force.  No 
doubt  that  in  the  past,  war  and  the  sword  have  been 
awful  and  fierce  agencies,  turning  sometimes  beneficially, 
and  forwarding  the  aims  of  civilization.  How  much  so 
ever  one  might  wish  to  have  seen  American  history 
purified  from  this  obsolete  and  barbarous  stigma — still 
the  war  of  Mexico  served  to  illustrate  the  vitality  of  the 
American  constructive  principle.  California  conquered, 
raised  in  a  twinkling  from  the  most  chaotic  and  compli 
cated  turmoil  of  passions  and  interests — to  the  dignity 
of  a  well-organized  State,  organized  by  the  common 
sense  and  understanding  of  the  in-pouring  Americans — 
those  social  Pelasgi  of  modern  times — without  any  effort, 
without  special  leaders,  legislators,  men  of  learning 
(savants)  and  deep  statesmen.  At  the  jame  time,  what 
a  sorrowful  spectacle  was  shown  in  the  old  world.  Two 
of  her  most  civilized  nations — where  learning  and  instruc 
tion,  if  not  general,  still  teem  and  flow  over  in  certain 
classes — called  together  all  their  individualities,  of  any  so 
cial,  political,  or  scientific  celebrity.  The  representatives 
of  all  new  social  ideas  and  theories,  as  well  of  historical 


268  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 


schools  and  doctrines,  were  chosen  by  the  people  to  meet 
together.  No  interference  from  without,  no  foreign  power 
meddled  with  them,  or  prevented  their  action;  masses  of 
people,  full  of  cheerful  expectation,  were  ready  to  receive 
their  biddings,  to  follow  their  word.  They  had  the  sub 
lime  mission  of  devising  the  means  for  the  renovation  of 
society,  now  crumbling  to  pieces.  Their  long-protracted 
deliberations  ended  by  opening  more  widely  the  doors  to 
domestic  despotism  in  France  and  Germany. 

Russia  represents  an  ancient  historical  and  social  ele 
ment,  still  prevailing  in  the  territorial  divisions,  in  the  for 
mation  of  states,  in  one  word  in  the  whole  national  economy 
of  the  old  world;  that  is,  as  before  stated,  the 'element 
of  race.  Russia  moves  on  the  old  track,  and  her  destinies — 
whatever  they  may  be — must  run  and  be  partly,  at  least, 
fulfilled  under  the  pressure  of  the  imperious  laws  of  war 
like  force.  Slavic  and  Russian  destinies  point  towards 
Asia,*  to  the  East.  For  their  realization  Russia  will  be 
obliged  to  appeal  to  the  old  law  of  force ;  but  in  her  future 
relations  with  the  West,  Russia,  emancipated  from  despot 
ism,  must  contribute  to  fix  the  emancipation  of  Europe 
on  a  firm  and  civilized  basis.  Thus  between  Russia  and 
Europe  there  ought  not  to  exist  in  the  future  any  reasons 
of  hostile  feud. 

If  until  now  and  for  a  short  time  to  come,  Russia  re 
presents  in  history  darkness  and  the  most  stringent  absolut 
ism,  this  cannot  last  for  ever.  There  is  enough  of  latent 

*  Some  eighteen  years  ago,  in  one  of  my  -writings  published 
at  Paris,!  was  the  first  foretelling  that  the  activity,  the  destinies 
of  Russia,  would  turn  in  that  direction.  Russian  reviews  and 
periodicals,  written  by  statesmen,  or  under  their  direction,  called 
me.  "  the  man  who  first  laid  his  hand  on  the  curtain  veiling  the 
future  of  Russia."  I  mention  this  as  a  proof  that  I  touched  a 
chord  in  the  national  feelings. 


MANIFEST    DESTINY.  269 

life  in  her  people  to  prove  that  the  present  passiveness 
is  not  a  result  of  debility,  and  prostration.  For  some 
reason  or  other  thickly  veiled  to  the  human  understanding, 
history  is  directed  by  various  seemingly  illogical,  cruel 
laws  and  even  principles.  Why  must  nations  and  human 
ity,  through  bloody  toils,  carve  out  their  way  towards  the 
higher  regions  of  light  ?  why  is  progress  thus  laborious, 
difficult,  and  often  interrupted  ?  Why  has  the  consecra 
tion  of  blood  hitherto  been  the  only  initiation  to  life  ? 
Why  does  the  initiator  perish  by  the  initiated  ?  The  slow 
and  successive  transition  from  one  social  state  to  another, 
and  better  one,  is  among  the  great  laws  of  historical 
movement.  The  Slavi  and  the  Russians  are  now  in  dark 
ness,  and  under  the  freezing  action  of  despotism  and  caste  : 
but  the  nations  of  western  Europe  were  for  centuries  trod- 
don  down  by  kings,  priests  and  nobles,  and  how  far  even 
now  are  they  emancipated  ?  Where  is  a  real  people  in 
Europe  ? 

Often,  very  often  there  prevails  in  history  a  law  in 
direct  opposition  to  the  ethical  principles  of  daily  life. 
Thus,  what  in  itself  is  a  crime,  has  often  historically  bene 
ficial  results.  Why  it  is  so,  very  likely  will  remain  for 
ever  unanswered.  But  the  fact  rises,  terrible,  above 
humanity — as  a  granite  rock  above  the  surface  of  the 
ocean. 

Without  the  injustice  of  the  British  Ministry  and 
Parliament,  the  independence  of  America  would  not 
have  been  so  soon  evoked ;  humanity  and  "history  would 
have  been  deprived  for  a  longer  time  of  this  realization 
of  their  most  sublime  aspirations,  and  yearnings.  And 
ascending  higher ;  without  the  cruel  atrocious  persecutions 
of  the  primitive  Christians,  Christianity  would  not  have 
shown  its  value ;  would  not  have  moved  the  masses,  and 
vould  not  have  spread  and  scattered  'in  all  directions  the 


270  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

sparks  of  a  new  civilization.  When  all  the  world  bowed 
to  the  Imperial  idol — the  Christians  alone  maintained  and 
asserted  the  freedom  of  conscience,  of  conviction. 

In  Russia  despotism  is  preparing,  nay,  facilitating 
the  ways  for  a  new  era.  The  stronger  the  compression, 
the  more  vigorous  will  be  the  reaction,  as  in  fountains  the 
height  of  the  jet  is  regulated  by  the  volume  and  the  pres 
sure  of  the  water.  The  people,  submerged  now  in  dark 
ness,  will  in  due  time  awake  to  the  higher  influences  of  truth. 
One  can  already  hear  the  eternal  waves  of  human  rights 
splashing  and  beating  on  the  artificial  rocks  of  despotism 
and  privilege.  They  will  be  broken,  washed  away,  and 
ingulfed.  Liberty  alone  is  an  enduring  substance,  and  a 
principle ;  all  other  social  forms  are  transient  manifesta 
tions,  and — notwithstanding  their  existence — still  doomed 
to  destruction. 

The  Slavi,  as  well  as  the  Russian  people,  must  put  on 
the  robe  of  manhood,  because  democracy  is  as  absolute  and 
irresistible  as  the  laws  of  the  physical  world.  Chrono 
logically,  the  Slavi  and  the  Russians  appear  the  last  to  act 
prominently  on  the  scene  of  history,  therefore  they  have 
suffered  the  longest  time.  Their  emancipation  will  sum 
up  the  emancipation  of  the  European  world.  To  contest 
and  doubt  the  emancipation  of  Russia,  is  to  doubt  final 
justice  and  wisdom. 

Having  re-established  the  true  balance  in  Europe,  the 
Slavic  and  Russian  current  will  undoubtedly  turn  towards 
Asia.  There,  in  those  vast  spaces,  is  the  immense  field 
opening  for  their  action.  And  no  other  nation  or  race 
can  fulfil  this  mission.  If  mankind  is  to  form  in  the  fu 
ture  a  harmonious  whole,  the  solitudes  of  Asia  must  be 
stirred  up,  vivified,  and  the  deathlike  quiet  prevailing 
there  must  be  broken.  Culture  and  civilization  must 
dispel  the  atrophy,  north  as  well  as  south  of  the  Himalaya. 


MANIFEST    DESTINY.  271 

To  electrify  tlieso  regions,  an  uninterrupted  contact  and 
friction,  exchange  and  excitation  are  absolutely  necessary. 
The  chuln  must  be  as  mighty  and  gigantic  as  is  the  region 
to  be  awakened  and  remodelled.  Those  intrusted  by  na 
ture's  law  with  this  mission  ought  to  be  conterminous, 
ought  to  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the  East.  This  is 
the  case  with  the  Slavi,  and  principally  the  Russians.  The 
people  to  whom  this  task  is  assigned,  must  be  in  posses 
sion  of  powerful  material  resources,  and  enjoy  in  full  their 
rights  and  faculties.  An  active  mass  is  to  press  against 
an  inert  one.  Such  a  labor  can  in  nowise  be  accom 
plished  by  scattered  commercial  factories,  nor  even  by 
religious  or  political  missionaries  :  but  only  by  the  concen 
trated  activity  of  a  mighty  people.  Whoever  observes 
history  with  an  unprejudiced  eye,  will  discover  this  almost 
incontestable  fact,  that  maritime  intercourse — unless  com 
bined  with  colonization — never  brings  about  an  assimilation 
or  permanent  exchange  of  ideas  between  nations.  Ideas 
are  propagated  by  land ;  contiguous  races,  even  if  differing 
in  civilization,  have  a  certain  similarity  of  habits  and 
notions,  which,  fostered  by  the  facility  of  contact  in  peace 
or  war,  and  by  other  physical  circumstances,  such,  for  in 
stance,  as  navigable  rivers  and  open  plains,  act  as  so  many 
connecting  links  between  the  adjoining  races.  And  so 
are  the  Russians  with  all  the  Asiatics.  Tartary,  Thibet, 
Mongolia,  the  snowy  northern  regions  of  Asia  deserve  as 
much  a  human,  European,  civilizing  solicitude  as  Asia 
Minor,  India,  parts  of  America,  or  any  other  spot  what 
ever  on  the  globe.  In  justice  these  northern  regions,  less 
favored  by  nature,  ought  to  be  compensated  by  civilization. 
The  members  of  the  human  family  scattered  there  ought 
to  be  protected  against  the  inclemency  of  the  elements^ 
and  wrapped  in  the  folds  of  sheltering,  preserving  culture. 
Whatever  may  be  at  present  the  black  stains  on  Russia, 


272  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

neither  its  government  nor  its  people  are  laboring  under 
the  inhuman  and  heinous  prejudice  against  any  difference 
of  race,  against  any  variety  of  shape  or  color  in  the  human 
family.  Descendants  of  Calmucks  and  Tartars  count 
among  the  Russian  Knalzla  or  Princes ;  Pouschkine,  the 
greatest  Russian  poet,  had  African  blood  in  his  veins 
from  the  maternal  side,  and  spoke  of  it  with  pride.  Al 
ready  in  contact  with  various  Asiatic  tribes,  the  Russian 
does  not  dispossess  them — either  by  law  or  by  violence ; 
the  Baschkir  of  Orenboug  along  the  Ural,  is  protected  by 
law  in  the  property  of  gold-yielding  sands  as  well  as  would 
be  any  genuine  Russian,  who,  enslaved  himself,  treats 
kindly  those  whom  he  subdues,  conceding  to  them  even 
more  rights  than  he  enjoys  himself.  The  Russian  neither 
exterminates  nor  ^transforms  into  bondsmen,  serfs  or 
slaves,  any  conquered  people.  The  change  of  form,  the 
transition  from  despotism  to  liberty,  can  neither  alter  nor 
endanger  the  real  destinies  of  Russia  and  the  Slavi.  On 
'the  contrary  it  will  widen  and  clear  up  the  horizon,  inspire 
with  a  fresh  vigor,  give  a  mighty  impulse.  Some  of  the 
works  undertaken  by  despotism,  for  its  own  glorifica 
tion  or  interest,  will  be  continued  in  a  new  and  humane 
manner. 

Various  are  the  agencies,  various  the  ways  and  means 
through  which  the  genius  of  humanity  reaches  her  transi 
tory  or  her  final  ends.  Various  are  the  mental  and  physical 
instrumentalities ;  the  one  as  ideas,  the  other  as  races  and 
nations,  through  which  great  historical  events  are  prepared 
and  executed.  The  history  of  people  and  nations,  of  their 
formation  as  states  and  empires,  is  a  continual  reciprocal 
action  of  just  and  unjust  influences,  of  atrocity,  cunning 
and  cruelty,  if  to  the  events  of  the  world  is  to  be  applied 
the  criterion  of  common  morality.  And  tragical  com- 


MANIFEST    DESTINY.  273 

plications  still  leave  in  history  indestructible  *and  often 
beneficial  traces.  No  century  and  no  nation  can  go  by, 
without  illustrating  this  phenomenon.  Through  how  many 
bloody,  and  apparently  unjust  and  exterminatory  wars, 
was  attained  and  established  the  unity  $f  the  Roman  Enp 
pire.  But  this  unity  cleared  up  the  way  for  Christianity, 
facilitating  the  labors  of  the  apostles,  and  of  the  father's. 
It  can  be  said  historically,  that  Augustus  surrendered  to 
Christ  the  world  as  an  unit.  The  Franks,  or  rather 
France  carried  on  her  shoulders  for  nearly  ten  centuries, 
the  destinies  of  the  continent.  Charlemagne  put  an  end 
to  the  chaotic  rovings  of  tribes,  began  to  construct  a  new 
social  edifice ;  the  battle-axe  of  Martel  crushing  the  scimi 
tar  of  the  Moslem,  preserved  the  west  from  the  temporary 
domination  of  the  Koran;  Franks  and  France  emanci 
pated  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  were  thus  the  instruments 
of  consolidating  the  Papal  unity  for  good  and  evil.  In 
the  16th  century  France  alone  raised  a  barrier  against  the 
attempts  of  Charles  V.  to  establish  an  universal  western 
monarchy.  She  prevented  the  absolute  fusion  of  the 
Pope  with  the  Emperor,  and  thus  preserved  Protestantism 
from  being  strangled  in  the  cradle.  To  accomplish  these 
various  tasks,  strength  and  unity  were  the  first  conditions, 
and  to  frame  it  out  several  centuries  were  laboriously  de 
voted.  Nearly  eleven  various  nationalities,  differing  in 
descent,  race,  language,  domestic  and  forensic  customs  and 
feudal  investitures, — were  to  be  melted  into  one  powerful 
nation.  How  many  murders,  crimes,  forgeries,  broken 
treaties  and  various  other  offences  were  resorted  to  before 
the  unity  was  obtained.  The  great  revolution  of  the  last 
century,  initiatory  of  a  new  era,  which  is  working  still  and 
will  work  uninterruptedly  until  the  past  is  destroyed  ; 
one  among  the  greatest  events  in  the  world's  history,  would 
never  have  attained  its  providential  signification,  if  at- 
12* 


274  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

.••<•*   ••• 

tempted  eft  even  carried  out  by  a  small  state  or  nationality. 
But  the  cry  of  emancipation  shouted  simultaneously  by 
twenty-six  millions,  shook  the  world,  and  unhinged  the 
past  for  ever.  When  the  head  of  Charles  I.  fell  un 
der  the  axe  of  the^  Independents,  no  one  of  the  sovereigns 
of  Europe  felt  himself  less  secure  on  his  throne :  how  dif 
ferently  were  they  all  affected  by  the  act  of  popular  jus- 
tice  executed  at  Paris  on  the  Place  of  the  Revolution. 
France  elaborates  and  scatters  abroad  ideas  with  unsparing 
profusion,  because  she  is  the  focus  of  a  powerful  unit,  of  a 
mighty  people. 

In  the  history  of  Russia,  and  above  all  during  the  last 
hundred  years,  there  are  many  events,  which,  if  only 
partly  understood  now,  will,  however,  be  justly  appreciated 
by  the  coming  generation.  Some  of  these  mournful  his 
torical  dramas  are  well  known,  and  have  been  mentioned 
here ;  we  seem  to  approach  the  winding  up  of  an  event, 
startling,  menacing,  cruel,  in  the  opinion  of  some,  but  nev 
ertheless  unavoidable,  and  very  likely  to  occur  before  the 
end  of  the  present  century. 

The  empire  of  the  Ottomans,  at  least  in  Europe,  is 
rapidly  approaching  its  end  ;  no  human  aid  can  preserve 
it,  and  the  real  question  is,  what  banner  shall,  finally,  be 
implanted  on  the  walls  of  Constantinople  ?  It  is  Russia, 
and  Russia  alone,  which,  for  more  than  a  hundred  years, 
has  uninterruptedly  drawn  nearer  and  nearer,  with  a 
bold,  aggressive,  and  steady  pace.  It  is  an  old  strug* 
gle,  often  renewed.  It  began  nearly  ten  centuries  ago, 
not  between  Turks  and  Russians,  not  between  Christians 
and  Moslems,  but  between  Byzantium  and  its  emperors 
and  Kieff  and  its  grand  dukes.  At  that  time,  the  heathen 
Ros  more  than  once  appeared  in  view  of  the  imperial  city, 
and  his  savage  warwhoop  often  startled  its  purple-born  mas 
ters.  We  have  already  mentioned  that  old  chroniclers 


MANIFEST    DESTINY.  2Y5 

and  geographers  of  the  East,  Armenians  and  Greeks,  ten 
centuries  ago,  called  the  Euxine,  Mare  Russicum  (Rus 
sian  Sea).  For  the  last  hundred  years  the  Russian,  cross 
and  bayonet  in  hand,  has  marched,  surrounded  by  a  cloud 
of  fire,  towards  Carigrad,  the  imperial  city,  to  replant  the 
holy  sign  on  the  cupola  of  St.  Sophia. 

Very  likely  Czarism  may  fulfil  this  work.  But  Czar 
and  Czarism  are  tools  used  by  the  genius  of  history,  who 
will  break  and  shatter  them  after  their  task  shall  have 
been  cU>ne.  In  the  foregoing  drama  the  Czar,  wrapped  in 
his  toga  of  despotism,  is  after  all  an  agent  of  the  national 
tendencies.*  He  hews  out  the  path  for  the  future,  loading 
on  his  shoulders  the  malediction  of  the  moment,  and  is  thus 
the  sin-offering  of  the  nation.  In  the  present  imminent 
crisis,  as  in  several  past  ones,  history,  which  is  seldom 
anomalous  or  commits  errors,  stands  opposite  to  the  sym 
pathies  and  to  the  excited  feelings  of  the  moment.  Gen 
erous,  and  to  a  certain  extent  seemingly  well-deserved 
wishes,  surround  the  fate  of  the  Turks.  But  inexorable  his 
tory  marches  onward,  unfolding  events  from  its  womb,  and 
unmindful  of  the  clamors  or  sufferings  of  the  day.  There 
are  some  features  in  the  character  of  the  Turks  command 
ing  respect;  but  still  they  cannot  avert  the  doom  over 
taking  them.  As  Lamartine  said,  years  ago,  they  are  "  en 
camped  in  Europe."  They  have  put  forth  no  roots  during 
nearly  five  centuries  of  their  occupation,  but  have  con 
tinually  formed  an  insurmountable  barrier  to  the  onward 
spirit  and  energy  of  Western  Europe.  It  seems  that 
all  the  branches  and  tribes  of  Scythic  or  Ouralian,  Fin 
nic,  Hunnic,  or  Turkoman  descent — all  connected  together 
— that  these  tribes  were  never  predestined  to  grow  and 
prosper  on  the  European  soil.  Some  of  them  even  encir- 

*  See  Appendix  C,  The  Testament  of  Peter. 


276  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

cled  by  Christian  civilization,  as,  for  example,  the  Mag 
yars,  have  remained  for  a  thousand  years  without  increas 
ing  in  any  way,  by  any  idea  or  notion,  the  bulk  of  Euro 
pean  culture.  All  of  them  appeared,  or  entered  Europe, 
on  horseback,  ravaging  and  pillaging,  and  producing  hus 
sars  or  spahis ;  and  on  horseback,  they  successively  dis 
appear  from  the  European  arena. 

The  Turks  laid  waste  the  most  beautiful  regions  of  the 
ancient  world,  where  culture  and  civilization  flourished 
more  or  less  from  the  dawn  of  history  until  overthrown 
by  the  Turkomans,  as  Egypt,  Asia  Minor,  Syria,  Greece, 
and  Constantinople.  Among  all  the  contumely  so  un 
sparingly  poured  over  the  last  Byzantine  epoch,  it  ought 
not  to  be  forgotten  that  in  Byzantium  was  light  when  all 
the  West  was  in  darkness ;  that  there  the  remains  of  the 
ancient  classical  civilization  were  preserved  and  kept  alive, 
and  therefrom  they  were  transported  to  Italy  and  to 
the  rest  of  Europe.  The  old,  fierce,  religious  fanaticism 
of  the  Turks  is  dying  out,  and  with  it  the  only  spring  of 
their  political  existence  is  destroyed.  No  momentary  re 
forms,  sparingly  spread  over  the  surface,  can  inculcate  a 
new  life,  not  springing  from  within  a  nation.  The  Moors, 
who  were  the  benefactors  of  Spain,  adorning  her  with  arts, 
culture,  refinement,  poetry ;  who  even  in  many  points 
taught  Europe ;  who  spread  larger  and  deeper  roots  in 
the  Peninsula  than  the  Turks  in  any  soil  occupied  by 
them ;  the  Moors,  who  resided  in  Spain  nearly  twice  as 
long  as  the  Turks  this  side  of  the  Hellespont,  finally  gave 
way  and  disappeared  from  the  part  of  the  globe  not  fated 
for  the  growth  of  the  crescent. 

The  Turks,  as  individuals,  as  a  state,  or  a  nation, 
seem  unfit  to  become  imbedded  or  intwined  in  the  develop 
ment  of  the  principles  admitted  as  fundamental  in  modern 
civilization,  which  cannot  justly  be  named  otherwise 


MANIFEST    DESTINY.  277 

than  Christian.  Its  true  focus,  its  life-giving  idea,  is 
the  substitution  of  humanity  for  the  ancient  selfishness, 
heathen  .or  Jewish,  looking  with  contempt  from  Sais, 
Olympus,  or  Sion,  on  all  other  members  of  the  human 
family.  The  Koran  inherited  in  full  this  ancient,  hostile, 
isolating  creed.  In  love,  in  humanity,  and  fraternity  is 
contained  the  moral,  philosophical  essence  of  the  Chris 
tian  idea.  They  alone  throw  the  light  of  promise,  and 
from  their  source  pours  all  that  is  elevated  and  pure  in 
modern  Christian  development.  Whatever  be  the  muddy 
alteration  of  this  spring,  however  slow  and  obstructed 
its  current,  still  the  essence  remains  unabated  and  un 
stained  by  the  mire  spread  around  it.  Thus  the  darkest 
clouds  change  not  the  beneficial  glare  of  the  sun.  With 
the  above  triad  alone  is  progress  possible,  and  the  real 
mental  and  social  emancipation  of  men  to  be  attained. 
What,  therefore,  is  encircled  in  the  Christian  idea,  what 
breathes  life  from  it,  even  in  the  remotest  manner, — all 
this  is  progressive,  and  possesses  the  seeds  and  possibility 
of  a  higher  development.  The  influence  of  the  Christian 
idea  seems  to  decide  the  question  that  the  human  race  is 
to  be  for  ever  progressive.  In  the  whole  ancient  world 
history  points  only  to  one  people,  to  the  GrreekSj  and  even 
among  them  almost  exclusively  to  Athens,  where  existed 
a  spring  of  unborrowed  progress  within  the  people  itself. 
The  light  now  kindled  can  never  more  be  extinguished, 
and  each  people  belonging  to  the  Christian  world  contri 
butes  to  nurse  this  sacred  flame.  All  that  is  out  of  the 
Christian  orbit  remains  fatal  and  stationary,  deprived  of 
spirit  and  elasticity.  It  opposes  and  counteracts  all  civil 
izing,  cultivating  activity,  and  as  a  barren  fact,  void  of  an 
inspiring  idea,  it  is  destined  finally  to  perish.  That  is  the 
destiny  of  the  Koran,  whose  historical  existence  has  been  in 
unabated  opposition  to  the  Christian  or  European  world. 


278  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

At  present  the  Turks  rather  submit  to,  than  admit  some, 
modifications  pressed  on  them  by  the  current  of  events  •. 
but  they  never  can  undergo  a  thorough  reform  in  the  spirit 
of  their  cardinal  institutions,  without  ceasing  to  be  what 
they  are  now.  To  them  may  be  applied  the  celebrated 
saying  of  the  General  of  the  Jesuits,  when  the  Pope  Gan- 
ganelli  proposed  to  him  a  reform  of  the  order,  "  Sint  ut 
sunt  aut  non  sint"  (they  must  remain  as  they  are  or  not 
be  at  all).  Whatever  may  be  said  to  the  contrary,  Russia 
is  in  the  Christian  orbit,  however  distorted,  and  even  in 
some  respects  pushed  aside,  may  be  the  real  application  of 
its  higher  principles.  The  pure  spark  is  deposited  in  the 
people,  and  will  finally  prevail  against  the  unchristian 
Czarism.  In  the  same  manner  the  destiny  of  the  Russian 
people  will,  in  the  end,  prevail  over  the  fate  of  the  wan 
dering  Turks. 

No  one  can  tell  precisely  when  the  last  hour  will  strike 
and  Constantinople  change  its  masters ;  neither  the  Czar 
nor  his  antagonists.  But  the  world  is  prepared  to  witness 
it.  The  general  fears  of  its  consummation  are  so  many 
proofs  of  its  unavoidability.  Without  discussing  how  far 
other  states  will  submit  or  participate  in  an  oifensive 
or  defensive  manner  in  this  great  historical  drama,  some 
forethoughts  may  be  expressed  as  to  the  influence  on  the 
future  of  Russia  when  in  possession  of  this  key  of  the  an 
cient  hemisphere. 

The  conquest  of  Constantinople  will  be  the  satisfaction 
of  an  old — and  in  the  feelings  not  only  of  the  Russians  but 
of  all  the  southern  Slavi,  of  a  pious — covetousness.  On 
the  way  thither  difficulties  greater  than  crossing  the  Dan 
ube  or  passing  the  Balkan  will  be  met  and  overcome,  by 
sacrifices  and  bloodshed  unequalled  perhaps  in  history. 
Whatever  is  now  the  alleged,  or,  partly  even,  real  hu 
manity  of  the  Turks,  it  ought  not  to  be  forgotten  that  in 


MANIFEST    DESTINY.  279 

the  European  regions  occupied  by  them  there  exists  not 
one  single  Christian  and  aboriginal  family — and  nearly 
three  quarters  of  the  Christians  are  of  Slavic  race — which, 
from  generation  to  generation,  has  not  some  fresh  and 
bloody  tale  clouding  over  the  domestic  hearth,  some  tale  of 
its  members  murdered  by  the  Turkish  yatagan.  How  long 
is  it  since  the  Giaour  has  come  to  be  considered  as  a  hu 
man  being  by  the  Mahometan  ?  What  was  sown  by  cen 
turies  in  oppression,  extermination,  and  blood,  a  few  years 
or  even  decennia  cannot  so  easily  heal  or  blot  out.  Fur 
ther,  for  more  perhaps  than  thirty  centuries,  the  Slavic 
race,  posted  on  the  eastern  limits  of  Europe,  received  the 
first  shock  of  all  the  Asiatic  invaders,  of  Finnic,  Ouralian, 
or  Mongolian  origin.  In  those  struggles  the  Slavi  were 
always  alone  against  fearful  odds.  During  the  duel  fought 
between  the  cross  and  the  crescent,  and  above  all  in  the 
last  six  centuftes,  the  Slavi  shed  more  of  their  blood  against 
the  Moslems  and  the  Turkomans  than  did  all  the  other  na 
tions  of  Europe  taken  together.  Neither  England  nor 
France  ever  assisted  the  Slavi,  and  the  Emperors  of  Ger 
many,  as  well  as  the  Republic  of  Venice,  resisted  the  Os- 
manlis  by  battalions  formed  mostly  out  of  Slavic  soldiers. 
When,  therefore,  the  moment  for  the  expulsion  of  the 
Turks  shall  come,  the  utmost  exertions  will  be  required 
to  prevent  a  cruel  and  merciless  retaliation,  the  long-con 
centrated  wrath  increasing  by  the  probably  desperate  re> 
sistance  of  the  retiring  foe. 

For  Russia,  for  the  present  or  any  future  Czar,  the 
complication  will  really  begin  with  the  possession  of  Con 
stantinople  and  its  Turkish  dependencies.  The  desti 
nies  of  the  nation,  of  Czarism,  and  of  Europe,  will  then 
enter  a  new  phasis.  From  whatever  point  of  view  we 
may  consider  this  eventuality,  sure  it  is,  that  the  politi 
cal  past  of  Russia  will  approach  its  last  stage  with  an  ac- 


280  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

celerated  velocity.  For  any  one  acquainted  with  the  Rus 
sian  history  and  character,  it  is  clear  that  in  the  event  of 
the  Czar  becoming  master  of  Constantinople  and  of  Euro 
pean  Turkey,  there  will  be  nothing  like  an  immediate 
erection  of  the  conquered  country  into  an  independent 
state  with  a  Russian  prince  at  its  head.  It  is  true  that 
such  a  project  is  cherished  by  a  certain  class  of  politicians, 
who,  at  different  times  within  these  last  twenty  years,  en 
tertained  similar  schemes  with  regard  to  Poland,  Greece, 
and  even  Hungary,  but  any  thing  like  this  was  never 
thought  of  in  Russia  and  in  St.  Petersburg.  If  the  Turks 
are  subjugated  or  driven  out  of  Europe  by  Russian  power 
and  policy,  their  territories,  and  all  that  belongs  thereto, 
will  at  once  form  a  national  possession,  as  inalienable  as 
the  most  ancient  provinces  of  Russia  proper.  Gained  by 
the  nation,  to  the  nation  it  must  belong.  Desired  and 
sought  for  centuries,  the  object  of  prophecy,  of  aspiration, 
and  of  faith,  to  separate  it  from  the  whole  would  be  like 
dismembering  the  empire  itself.  Peaceably  it  could  not 
be  done.  No  sovereign  would  dare  to  undertake  it.  The 
step  could  never  be  understood,  never  accepted  by  the  peo 
ple.  It  would  be  regarded  as  high  treason  against  the 
national  unity  and  the  national  existence,  and  would  prove 
sufficient  to  shake  any  Czar  from  his  throne.  No  one 
could  resist  the  flood  of  unpopularity  which  such  a  mea 
sure  would  arouse.  Even  the  courtiers  would  repudiate 
it,  and  reject  all  measures  of  political  expediency  which 
might  be  urged  in  its  favor.  The  Russian  people  would 
look  on  the  act  as  a  mutilation  of  their  glory  and  their 
inheritance,  and  as  the  avowal  of  national  weakness  and 
individual  imbecility.  Or  it  would  bear  the  equally  re 
pulsive  aspect  of  submission  to  foreign  powers,  and  would 
thus  raise  the  national  spirit  in  rebellion.  The  lowest 
peasant  in  Russia  regards  Poland,  Finland,  and  Georgia 


MANIFEST    DESTINY.  281 

as  national  acquisitions,  and  parts  of  one  united,  indivisible 
domain.  Much  more  will  this  be  the  case  with  Turkey, 
whose  appropriation  lies  through  gigantic  difficulties.  To 
erect  a  distinct  sovereignty  and  government  at  Constanti 
nople  would  be  an  insult  to  manifest  destiny,  an  outrage 
on  the  universal  convictions  and  feelings ;  it  would  be 
something  unheard  of  in  Russian  history,  and  no  Czar 
would  venture  to  erect  it  into  a  separate  kingdom  even  for 
one  of  his  sons.  Nor  would  the  most  ambitious  among 
thqm  accept  a  sovereignty  which  would  either  be  a  delu 
sion,  or  must  else  bring  him  into  hostility  with  his  kindred 
and  his  native  land.  In  this  new  domicil  he  would  be 
surrounded  and  obliged  to  get  accustomed  to  new  faces, 
to  new  associations,  a  dear  sacrifice,  if  not,  at  least  partly, 
compensated  by  realities  of  power  and  sovereignty.  A 
grand  duke  at  St.  Petersburg,  as  long  as  it  lasts,  must  oc 
cupy  a  position  much  superior  to  that  of  a  sham  monarch 
at  Athens  or  Constantinople.  And  to  become  a  real,  in 
dependent  monarch  there,  he  must  fight  for  it  against 
Russia. 

The  conquered  country  will  then  remain  Russian. 
The  precise  nature  of  the  administrative  divisions  and 
organization  is  a  problem  which  time  and  circumstances 
alone  can  solve.  It  will  be  easy  to  proceed  there  as  in 
any  other  conquered  province,  distributing  the  whole  into 
counties  and  governments,  according  to  the  Russian  home 
system.  Nor  will  any  hinderance  be  found  in  replacing 
the  decrepit  Turkish  administration  by  a  new  one,  or  in 
troducing  and  adapting  there  the  Russian  civil  and  crimi 
nal  laws.  The  beginning  is  simple  and  easy,  but  it  is  the 
end  which  we  are  endeavoring  to  foreshadow.  No  doubt 
it  must  be  something  such  as  the  greedy  autocrat  and  his 
counsellors  do  not  imagine. 

The  traditional  appellation  of  Constantinople  among 


282  RUSSIA    AS    IT   IS. 

the  Russians  is  Czarigrad — the  city  of  the  Czar.  One 
day  the  imperial  court  will  be  transported  thither  in  ful 
filment  of  the  destinies  of  the  city.  Constantinople  will 
exercise  its  everlasting  spell,  and  attract  the  Czars.  Its 
irresistible  and  various  fascinations  will  tempt  them. 
This  is  not  aimed  at,  but  it  cannot  be  avoided.  The 
monarch  and  his  grandees  will  yield  to  the  temptation. 
They  will  abandon  the  cold,  misty,  frozen,  marshy,  mouldy 
and  gloomy  region  of  St.  Petersburg,  with  its  monuments 
of  murder  and  of  parricide,  for  the  unrivalled  beauty  of 
the  Bosphorus,  where  in  their  ambitious  intoxication  they 
will  believe  themselves  the  masters  of  thQ  world.  But 
history  attests  that  to  conquer  and  occupy  Byzantium,  is 
to  sink  into  effeminacy.  The  families  transplanted  to 
the  south  in  the  cortege  of  the  throne  will  soon  disappear 
one  by  one.  Roman  families  settled  with  Constantine 
and  after  him  in  Byzantium ;  still  they  disappeared  after  a 
short  time  from  the  court  and  from  public  life,  and  scarce 
ly  a  family  of  Roman  descent  appears  prominent  during 
the  Eastern  Empire.  The  Greeks,  the  Fanariote,  the 
Slavic  Rajah  of  the  South  will  soon  prevail  in  the  palace 
— it  may  be  in  the  modern  seraglio — against  the  genuine 
Russian.  By  and  by  they  will  surround  the  master,  creep 
into  his  councils,  and  crowd  out  therefrom  the  man  of  the 
north.  Even  the  cunning  and  servile  German,  so  influen 
tial  now  in  the  northern  capital,  will  be  pushed  aside. 
Teutonic  prilgrimages  of  fortune  hunters  from  the  Baltic 
provinces,  as  well  as  from  Germany,  will  be  not  so  easily 
performed  to  Constantinople,  as  they  are  now  to  St. 
Petersburg.  In  one  word,  the  court  in  Byzantium  or 
Czarigrad  will  soon  cease  to  be  Russian  ;  it  will  become 
estranged  to  the  nation,  and  autocracy  will  soon  become 
disabled.  It  will  lose  its  control  over  the  people,  its  old 
indigenous  flavor  will  disappear,  the  historic  ties  be- 


MANIFEST    DESTINY.  283 

tween  the  Czar  and  his  subjects  will  be  rent  asunder; 
the  man  of  the  North  will  cease  to  recognize  his  heredi 
tary  master  in  the  despot  revelling  on  the  Hellespont.  We 
may  expect  to  see  there  a  varied  reproduction  of  the  worst 
Byzantine  epoch — and  that  the  throne  of  Peter  may  dis 
appear  in  the  ashes  of  some  modern  Sardanapalus.  The 
Muscovite  despotism  has  muscles  of  iron,  and  nerves  of 
steel ;  let  these  relax  and  it  dies.  Let  it  become  Byzan 
tine  or  Sultanesque,  and  the  nation  will  rise  for  its  over 
throw.  Nobility,  clergy,  the  men  of  Moscow,  of  the  Don, 
the  Wolga,  and  of  the  Baltic,  all  united  in  the  common 
cause,  will  execute  its  doom  and  close  its  history,  more 
easily  and  surely  than  would  be  possible  in  the  Kremlin 
or  on  the  Neva. 

Thus  the  possession  of  Constantinople  seems  neces 
sarily  fatal  to  the  power  of  the  Czars.  There  remains 
the  alternative  of  the  conversion  of  the  city  into  a  mere 
satrapy,  and  the  appointment  of  some  noble  or  general  to 
govern  it.  But  this  is  hardly  possible.  What  subordi 
nate  could  safely  be  intrusted  with  the  power  and  influ 
ence  inherent  to  such  a  position  ?  Among  the  actual  or 
possible  possessions  of  the  Empire,  there  is  none  whose 
control  would  so  stimulate  ambition  or  furnish  such  re 
sources  to  gratify  it.  Mehemed  AH  in  Egypt  was  far 
more  dependent  on  the  Sultan,  and  had  less  the  means 
of  gaining  power  for  himself,  than  a  Russian  governor 
would  possess  in  Constantinople,  where  contact  and  com 
munications  with  Europe  and  with  the  world  are  more 
easy  and  immediate  than  from  St.  Petersburg.  No  police 
will  prove  sufficient  to  watch  there  over  the  lieutenant  of 
the  Czar.  Besides,  no  Russian  will  become  a  Pole  at 
Warsaw,  a  Georgian  or  Armenian  at  Tiflis,  and  identify 
himself  with  the  conquered  and  espouse  their  cause ;  how 
easily  the  sternness  of  his  national  feelings  would  be  dis- 


284  RUSSIA    A3    IT   IS. 

solved  amid  the  recollections  of  Greece  and  of  Byzantium, 
surrounded  by  an  unwonted  life,  and  breathing  an  atmos 
phere  teeming  with  new  and  irresistible  aspirations.  There 
is  not  a  man  in  all  Russia  that  an  Emperor  would  long 
trust  there.  Fatality  will  oblige  him  to  govern  himself 
with  such  consequences  as  are  shown  above. 

The  annexation  of  Turkey,  and  the  possession  of  Con 
stantinople,  will  influence  the  destinies  of  the  Russian  peo 
ple  in  a  manner  directly  opposed  to  that  in  which  it  must 
affect  the  autocracy.  Constantinople  will  become  a  mighty 
opening  valve  for  Russia,  a  channel  connecting  and  uni 
ting  her,  really  for  the  first  time,  with  the  European  na 
tions.  A  great  mart  will  be  opened,  not  only  for  the  ex 
change  of  goods  but  likewise  for  that  of  ideas.  Through 
Constantinople  the  Russian  people  will  mix  freely,  not 
only  with  the  few  foreign  merchants  and  speculators  visit 
ing  or  established  in  St.  Petersburg,  but  with  the  world 
at  large.  This  broad  opening  for  commerce  will,  like  a 
pioneer,  carve  the  way  for  other  and  more  bright  results. 
Nowhere  will  commerce  prove  to  such  an  extent  a  media 
tor  of  civilization,  as  when  Constantinople  shall  initiate 
the  Russian  people  to  the  trade  of  the  world.  All  the 
forces  and  resources  of  the  country  will  turn  naturally  to 
wards  the  south,  following  the  lordly  currents  of  the  Dnie 
per,  the  Don,  the  Wolga,  and  its  affluents.  Now,  during 
six  months  of  the  year  the  Baltic  is  frozen,  but  the  commu 
nication  through  Constantinople  will  know  no  interruption. 
The  Russian  products  for  export  must  laboriously  ascend 
towards  the  north,  where  empty  only  the  Neva,  the 
Dwina,  the  Niemen,  secondary  natural  channels,  and  run 
ning  through  less  fertile  regions.  The  Mediterranean  is 
still,  and  will  be  for  a  long  time,  if  not  for  ever,  the  ren 
dezvous  of  the  world,  while  the  Baltic,  and  above  all  its 
Finnic  bay,  is  frequented  only  by  few  nations.  The  Rus- 


MANIFEST    DESTINY  .285 

sian  people  are  no  more  to  be  excluded  from  the  general 
communion,  and  the  safety  of  other  nations  requires  their 
admission.  When  Russia  shall  become  a  maritime  power, 
then  only  will  her  movement  keep  time  with  the  other 
nations ;  her  development  will  become  regulated  and  or 
derly,  and  no  longer  spasmodic  and  discordant  with  itself. 
St.  Petersburg  is  now  the  principal  outlet,  affecting  the 
nation  as  a  powerful  vesicatory  applied  on  the  surface  of 
a  body  to  stimulate  the  activity  of  its  various  parts, 
attracting  it  artificially  to  a  given  point.  The  impulse 
towards  Constantinople  will  be  natural,  like  sliding  on  a 
gentle  slope.  "  St.  Petersburg,"  says  Kukolnik,  a  Russian 
poet,  "  is  a  window  cut  out  into  Europe  by  the  axe  of 
Peter  the  Great."  Constantinople  will  prove  an  immense 
gate,  not  only  opening  to  Europe,  but  to  all  the  world. 
In  St.  Petersburg  despotism,  with  its  vast  civil  and  mili 
tary  mechanism,  stands  day  and  night  a  watchful  and 
menacing  sentinel  to  intercept  every  breath  of  air  which 
may  impart  a  moral  contagion.  No  such  quarantine  can 
possibly  be  established  on  the  Hellespont,  and  no  police 
can  maintain  there  its  impervious  nets.  Western  ideas 
and  culture  will  make  their  way,  and  irresistibly  stimulate 
the  whole  empire.  What  is  now  benumbed  will  be  raised 
to  elasticity  and  to  cosmopolite  intercourse.  Odessa  is 
already  one  of  the  most  liberal  and  facile  spots  in  Russia, 
where  despotism  is  felt  less  painfully.  Intercourse  on  a 
large  scale  with  other  nations  will  result,  and  the  Rus 
sian,  the  man  of  the  people,  will  no  more  be  kept,  as  now, 
isolated  from  his  brethren.  His  suspicion  against  every 
thing  foreign— a  sentiment  carefully  nourished  and  fostered 
by  the  government — his  sulky  coyness  will  successively 
melt  away  and  disappear  ;  the  inborn  sociality  of  his  char 
acter  will  prevail,  rendering  him  generously  friendly  with 
the  foreigners.  The  genius  of  history  in  her  multifarious 


*286  RUSSIA    AS    IT    IS. 

workings  is'directed  by  higher  aspirations,  her  views  are  lof 
tier  and  more  keen  than  those  of  every-day  politicians  She 
prepares  the  future  ;  they  scarcely  discern  the  seconds  of 
the  present.  Thus  she  leads  the  Russian  people  to  the  sac 
rament  of  initiation  into  the  community  of  nations,  through 
the  future  possession  of  Constantinople.  Once  there,  the 
man  of  the  people,  burgher,  merchant,  or  peasant,  will 
feel  more  keenly  the  necessity  of  education,  of  culture  of 
mind  and  intellect,  whereof  he  is  now  deprived  by  the  cruel 
care  of  the  government.  No  preventive  measures  can 
then  prove  stringent  enough  to  check  and  bar  the  inborn 
human  impulse  to  see  the  outer  world,  to  travel,  to  observe, 
to  learn.  Then  not  only  noblemen,  officials,  or  the  fa 
vored  few,  but  the  man  of  the  people  will  mix  with  Europe 
and  become  acquainted  with  her  condition.  The  peo 
ple  will  begin  to  appreciate  events  by  personal  observa 
tion,  to  ponder  good  and  evil  by  themselves,  and  not 
through  the  medium  of  Czarian  proclamations.  The 
national  character  will  unfold  its  more  generous  side,  be 
better  known  and  appreciated  by  others.  The  extension 
of  trade,  of  commercial  affairs,  will  clear  and  widen  the 
mental  horizon ;  the  Russian  will  be  enabled  to  make  a 
large  choice  of  mental  goods,  to  introduce  and  raise  them 
carefully  at  home.  He  will  adopt  goods  as  well  as  ideas  by 
his  own  judgment,  and  no  longer  scantily  receive  every  ob 
ject  at  second-hand,  through  the  minute  and  narrow  inter 
ference  of  the  ruling  master.  The  nation  will  thus  rise 
to  the  level,  feel  the  impulses,  claim  the  advancing  rights 
of  civilized  humanity,  and  share  in  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the 
European  social  tide.  Through  this  Hellespontic  gate 
way  the  people  shall  enter  the  scene  of  the  world,  and  no 
longer  be  represented  there  by  the  autocracy  and  its  hire 
lings. 

The  expulsion  of  the  Turks  and  the  future  possession 


MANIFEST    DESTINY.  287 

of  Constantinople  have  been  considered  for  years  as  the 
highest  problem  for  European  politics.  On  its  solution  de 
pends  not  only  the  future  political  configuration  of  Russia, 
but  her  supremacy  over  the  old  hemisphere.  Prophecies 
are  at  hand  that  the  oscillating  waves  of  the  shock  which 
is  to  ingulf  the  empire  of  the  Ottomans  will  be  deeply  felt 
through  the  whole  globe.  Sinister  and  terrible  conse 
quences  are  associated  with  that  eventuality.  Without 
in  the  least  contesting  its  grandeur,  it  may  be  contended 
that  what  is  now  represented  as  ominous  of  evil,  will,  for 
reasons  mentioned  above,  prove  in  the  end  an  harmonious 
incident  in  the  great  drama  of  human  affairs.  It  will 
become  a  galvanic  spark,  applied  to  the  combustible  and 
explosive  elements,  accumulated  in  Russia  for  centuries. 
Whatever  may  be  the  ambitious  purpose  of  the  Czars, 
and  their  hostility  to  the  triumph  of  the  principles  of  lib 
erty  and  democracy,  the  enterprise  set  on  foot  against  the 
world's  welfare  will  turn  against  them.  Emancipation 
and  the  destruction  of  autocracy  will  rise  from  the  dread 
ed  conflagration. 

In  the  pages  of  this  book  an  attempt  has  been  made 
to  show  that  in  the  nature,  and  in  the  feelings  of  the  Rus 
sian  people,  as  well  as  in  its  institutions,  and  in  its  pres 
ent  or  eventual  geograprtkl  extension,  are  contained 
seeds  of  better  destinies  for  the  whole  Slavic  race,  and 
promises  of  a  civilized  and  peaceful  onward  march  for  the 
European  world.  The  time,  the  hour,  for  the  unfolding 
and  growth  of  these  germs — thickly  veiled  now — will  be 
revealed  and  sounded  by  the  ever-watchful  genius  of 
humanity. 


APPENDIX.  289 


APPENDIX. 


A. 

• 

THE    AMAZONS. 

THE  appearance  and  the  disappearance  of  the  Amazons  in  the 
most  remote  history,  is  one  of  the  enigmas,  left  and  transmit 
ted  to  posterity,  almost  from  the  mythical  times  of  the  infancy 
of  mankind.  At  the  dawn  of  history,  the  Amazons  were 
considered  as  being  already  an  echo  of  bygone  times,  belonging 
to  the  most  distant  heroic  epoch. 

The  investigations  into  the  origin  of  races  and  people,  trace 
back  to  the  primitive  migration  that  divided  the  great  human 
family.  It  is  supposed  that  the  grandsons  of  Noah  parted  from 
each  other,  and  formed  families,  groups,  and  tribes.  Thus 
originated  the  races,  which  spread  over,  and  populated  the  whole 
globe,  assigned  as  the  habitation  and  patrimony  of  men.  The 
origin  of  the  Amazons  ought  to  belong  to,  and  to  be  connected, 
at  any  rate,  with  one  of  the  races  which  issued  from  the  great 
trunk.  The  Amazons  cannot  be  considered  as  belonging  to 
the  Shemites,  for  antiquity  does  not  place  them  among  the 
peoples  of  Shemitic  descent.  The  question  is,  to  lift  the  veil 
of  time,  and  determine  to  which  branch  according  to  the  Bibli 
cal  genealogy  the  Amazons  belonged. 

Whoever  is  willing  to  listen  attentively  to  the  murmur 
of  the  earliest  traditions,  of  the  infancy  of  mankind,  and 
especially  to  the  traditions  of  those  families  and  races  which 
13 


290  APPENDIX. 

took  possession  of  Europe,  from  the  shores  of  the  Euxine  and 
the  Hellenic  Archipelago  to  the  Atlantic,  and  from  the 
columns  of  Hercules  to  the  frozen  seats  of  the  Laponians — tra 
ditions  transmitted  by  the  belief  of  those  peoples,  and  gathered 
by  historians  and  chroniclers ;  such  an  one  entertains  no  doubt, 
that,  from  the  time  of  the  primitive  settlements,  the  vivid 
recollections  of  those  first  pioneers,  and  the  pious  reminiscences 
preserved  by  following  generations — all  run  back  to  a  primitive 
and  common  cradle.  All  of  these  traditions  point  to  the  East, 
to  heights  which  the  ethnography  of  nations  demonstrates  to 
be  situated  in  Asia,  around  Mount  Ararat  and  in  the  Cauca 
sian  chain. 

Thus  what  Moses  teaches  in  his  books,  seems,  to  a  certain 
degree,  to  be  confirmed  by  the  traditions  of  the  earliest  people, 
and  by  the  science  of  our  times.  The  masterly  publications  of 
Bitter,  that  irrefutable  geographer,  and  those  of  the  immortal 
Goerres,  admit  the  fact  of  the  concentration  of  the  primitive 
families  in  the  Caucasian  Mountains,  before  their  distribution 
over  the  globe.  From  these  heights  they  descended,  one 
after  the  other,  spreading  in  every  direction,  as  torrents  fall 
ing  from  mountains  overspread  and  fructify  the  plains.  As 
well  to-day,  as  in  the  historical  yesterday,  the  names  of  the 
forefathers  of  almost  all  Japhetic  families,  both  European  and 
Asiatic,  are  still  to  be  found  in  Caucasus  and  Armenia. 

Setting  out  in  the  search  of  the  distant  regions,  designed 
for  every  family  and  race  as  their  special  and  definitive  father* 
land,  these  families  left  the  Caucasus  by  the  descents  of  the 
north,  south,  east  and  west.  Part  of  the  last  emigrants  un 
doubtedly  remained  near  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea. 

Among  these  first  pilgrims,  are  also  to  be  found  the  people 
of  the  Eniochi — Enetes — Venetes,  to  whom  classical  writers 
assign  a  most  remote  antiquity.  These  Enetes  or  Venetes 
moved  forward  towards  Europe  slowly,  for  ages,  remaining  in 
different  spots  which  they  peopled,  and  whence  they  sent  out 
colonies  in  different  directions. 

Paphlagonia  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  more  protracted 
stopping  places  of  the  Enetes,  during  their  transmigration 
towards  Europe.  Ancient  testimonies  are  very  explicit  as  to 


APPENDIX.  291 

this  fact.  The  lather  of  history,  whose  authority,  denied  for  a 
moment  by  the  skepticism  of  the  last  century,  daily  regains 
ground  v:\ih  all  who  know  to  what  voices  a  lively  attention 
must  Lo  given,  in  order  to  understand  the  old  traditions  of 
different  nations :  Herodotus,  speaking  of  the  Italian  Enetes, — 
Venetes,  tells  us,  that  they  arrived  there  from  Asia.  In  his 
book  Terpsichore,  he  says:  "Enetos  qui  sunt  in  Adria — se 
colonos  Hedorum  dicere — qui  quo  pacto  coloni  Hedorum  fue- 
rint  ejusdeni  non  quo  cogitare,  sed  fiat  quod  libet  in  longo  tern- 
pore."  Flavius  Josephus,  in  his  Antiquities,  mentions  the 
Enetes  as  the  oldest  inhabitants  of  Paphlagonia ;  positively 
asserting  that,  in  remote  times,  these  Enetes  were  also  named 
Riphatos,  or  descendants  of  Riphat,  according  to  scripture,  the 
son  of  Gomer.  The  testimony  of  Homer  is  not  wanting,  that 
the  Enetes  inhabited  Paphlagonia. 

"  PapWagonorum  hanc  ibant,  ductore  Pylomene,  turmae 
Ex  Henetis  mulas  quse  terra  enutrit  agrestas." 

Relying  upon  this  testimony  of  the  poet,  Strabo  asserts, 
that  it  was  the  Enetes  who  preserved  and  conveyed  to  posterity 
the  art  of  breeding  the  best  horses,  and  that  of  procreating 
inules.  "  Etiam  apud  Grsecos  pullorum  Venetorum  fama  inno- 
tuerit,  idque  genus  longo  tempore  in  prsetio  fuerint."  In 
another  place :  "  Veneti — imitatione  priscorum  qui  procreandis 
mulis  equos  alebant."  Strabo  collects  almost  all  the  tradi 
tions  upon  the  sojourn  of  the  Enetes  in  Paphlagonia,  of  whom 
however,  in  his  time,  there  were  no  remains  in  that  country. 
He  attempts  to  explain  their  disappearance.  "  Primarum  Paph- 
lagoniam  gentem  fuisse  Enetos,  e  qua  fuerit  Pylomenes,  quern 
et  plurimi  ad  helium  fuerunt  secuti,  qui  eversa  Troja,  amisso 
duce  in  Thraciam,  abierint  vagantique  deinde  in  Yenetiam  par- 
venerint,  sunt  qui  Antenorum  et  filios  ejus  socios  ejus  profectionis 
fuisse  perhibent,  et  ad intimum  Adria3  sinus recessumconsedisse." 
In  another  place :  "  Alii  Venetorum  Paphlagonum  quosdam  e 
bello  Trqjano  cum  Antenore  eo  locorum  evasisse  tradunt" — 
Probabile  est,  ergo  hac  de  causa  Enetos  defecisse  ut  in  Paphla 
gonia  nulli  repariantur." 

As  already  stated,  these  Enetes  were  a  horse-breeding  race, 
and  apparently  a  race  of  horsemen.  In  their  .neighborhood. 


292  APPENDIX. 

on  the  south  of  the  Black  sea,  tradition  and  ancient  fable  point 
out  to  us  the  Amazons. 

The  customs  of  the  Amazons,  their  warlike  life,  their  horse 
manship,  then*  hatred  of  men,  their  customs,  as  for  instance, 
that  of  mutilating  one  of  their  breasts,  to  enable  them  the  bet 
ter  to  manage  the  bow,  are  all  generally  known ;  as  well  as 
what  is  called  their  history.  The  aim  of  the  present  article 
being  to  assertain,  if  possible,  their  orign,  and  to  discover  with 
what  race  they  were  connected,  I  shall  not  delay  upon  what 
has  become  quite  proverbial  through  the  world. 

The  Amazons  did  not  remain  strangers  to  the  great  duel 
fought  by  the  nations  of  these  countries,  which,  in  the  follow 
ing  period,  have  been  surnamed  and  divided  into  European  and 
Asiatic.  I  will  observe  here,  that  the  appellation  of  Asia  is 
wrongly  bestowed  upon  these  countries,  at  the  time  of  the  siege 
of  Troy.  Strabo,  whose  authority  on  those  matters  is  the  most 
decided  among  the  writers  of  the  classical  world,  speaks  thereof 
in  the  following  manner.  " Neque  Europam  neque  Asiam  no- 
minabant  Homero  vivente,  nee  dum  cfivisus  erat  in  tres  continen- 
tes  orbis  terrarum,  continentibus  reliquis  non  dum  divisis,  ne 
Tanaidis  quidem  opus  habuit  mentione." 

The  Amazons  hastened  to  the  defence  of  Troy.  Homer 
enumerates  fliem,  with  other  nations  gathered  together  in  the 
city  of  one  hundred  gates.  Their  queen,  Penthesilea,  fought 
there,  and  probably  she  followed  Pylomenes  and  his  Paphlago- 
nians.  The  verse, 

"Divi  in  locis  monumentum  nempe  Myrinae," 

alludes  to  the  Amazons.  This  Myrina  was  also  one  of  their 
queens,  and  founded  a  town  in  Eolia,  named  from  her. 

The  Amazonian  region,  situated  on  the  south  of  the  Pontus 
Euxinus,  was  contiguous,  on  the  west,  to  Paphlagonia,  and  the 
very  ancient  country  of  Polymenia,  where,  in  a  later  period 
Pompey  founded  the  town  of  Pompejopolis,  which  outlived  the 
founder  but  a  short  time.  On  this  side,  also,  they  bordered  the 
settlements  of  the  Eniochi,  Enetes — Yenetes,  being  separated 
from  them  by  the  river  Halys.  This  Amazonian  region  was 
included  from  old  Phanaroea,  between  the  rivers  Lycus  on  the 
south,  along  the  Yris,  and  both  sides  of  the  Thermodon  and 


APPENDIX.  293 

the  plains  of  the  Therniscyra,  having  on  the  east,  the  Chal 
deans  and  the  Amazonian  mountains. 

The  scholiast  of  the  Argonautica  of  Apollonius  narrates, 
that,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  fields  of  Doias,  which  together  with 
the  Ackmonian  thicket,  were  situated  on  the  banks  of  the 
Thermodon,  three  cities  were  built  and  inhabited  by  the  Ama 
zons.  One  of  these  cities  was  Lycastia  on  the  banks  of  the 
Lycastos  or  Lycos,  Lych.  (the  original  root  of  the  name  of  Lech  ;) 
the  second  was  Themiscyra,  near  the  mouth  of  the  river  Ther 
modon;  the  third  was  Ohalybia,  near  Mount  Henetos,  afterwards 
the  residence  of  the  Alybes,  called  sometimes  Chalybians,  who 
instead  of  silver  possessed  iron.  This  town,  Ohalybia,  is  the 
same  as  Alobe,  Alopa  or  Aloa,  in  ancient  fable,  the  silver  city, 
afterwards  transformed  to  the  iron  town,  or  castle.  Accord 
ing  to  this  commentator,  the  Amazons  of  those  regions,  were 
also  divided  into  three  branches:  the  centre  on  the  Thermodon, 
the  east  near  the  Chaldeans  of  the  country  still  named  Kuldir. 
These  Chaldeans  had  a  periodical  intercourse  for  procreation 
with  these  women.  Finally,  the  third  branch  extended  west, 
along  the  banks  of  Lychus,  and  bordered  on  Paphlagonia. 

This  was  one  of  the  regions  inhabited  by  the  Amazons,  in 
antiquity  so  remote  that  the  light  of  history  is  scarcely  able 
to  disperse  its  darkness.  The  fame  of  the  labors  of  Heracles, 
by  whom  their  queen  Antiope  was  killed,  preserved  also  to  pos 
terity  the  remembrance  of  this  warlike  woman,  as  it  does  the 
lay  of  the  great  poet  of  the  mythological  world,  and  as  does 
also  the  popular  fable. 

But  this  fable  of  the  existence  of  the  Amazons  in  the  night 
of  time,  was  not  confined  to  that  region  only.  Antiquity  has 
traditions  of  them  in  other  countries  also,  both  on  the  Tanais 
and  in  the  burning  Libya.  It  is  difficult,  almost  impossible  to 
specify  the  period  and  the  causes  which  led  to  this  irruption 
of  the  Amazons.  They  shook  Asia  Minor  and  extended  their 
inroads  to  Greece.  The  Libyan  Amazons,  Diodorus  Siculus 
believed  to  be  only  a  colony  of  those  of  Themiscyra,  whom  ac 
cording  to  his  description  they  resemble  in  every  respect. 

In  the  first  feeble  twilight  of  ttoe  middle  ages,  Orosius  of 
Hispano-Goth  extraction,  the  pupil  and  friend  of  St.  Augustine, 


294  APPENDIX. 

one  of  the  fathers  of  the  church,  and  after  him  the  first  origi 
nator  of  the  philosophy  of  history  as  founded  on  the  interven 
tion  of  Providence  in  human  affairs,  and  in  this  manner  the 
precursor  and  intellectual  sponsor  of  Bossuet — Orosius  tried  to 
draw  together  all  the  different  traditions  concerning  the  Ama 
zons.  He  attempted  to  establish  between  them  a  link  of  filia 
tion,  and  even  a  dynastical  succession.  But  he  mingled  together 
the  different  traditions  and  legends,  and  confused  the  places. 
Casting  them  all  in  one  and  the  same  mould,  he  exerted  himself 
to  prove  the  Amazonian  descent  to  be  originally  from  a  Scythic 
family,  which,  expelled  from  the  North,  reached  the  Thermodon 
guided  by  Plyros  and  Scolopytos. 

Antiquity  in  conveying  to  us  the  recollection  of  times  which 
can  be  called  ante-historical,  pretends  not  to  give  with  any  pre 
cision  their  chronologic  epoch,  a  thing  impossible  in  itself. 
The  epoch  in  which  the  Amazons  shook  Asia,  confounded  by 
Orosius  and  his  followers  with  the  exclusive  existence  of  the 
Amazons  of  Themiscyra,  might  belong  to  that  period,  the 
memory  of  which  reached  Herodotus  as  an  echo  of  long  by 
gone  times,  in  which  the  Cimmerians  of  the  Pontus,  expelled 
from  their  seats  by  the  Scythians,  and  fleeing  before  them, 
arrived  in  Media  and  Asia  Minor — Melpomenec :  "  Scythas 
Arraxe  transmisso  in  Cimmeriam  abiisse."  Clio:  "Cim- 
merii  a  Scythis  nomadibus  ejecti." 

The  Amazons,  connections  of  that  race  to  which  the  Cim 
merians  belonged,  probably  followed  them.  Both  the  Cimmeri 
ans  and  Amazons  met,  it  seems,  south  of  the  Black  Sea  with 
other  tribes  belonging  originally  to  the  same  race  ;  and  in  this 
manner  both  were  strengthened.  The  Cimmerians  mixed  with 
the  Eniochis-Kiphatides — the  Northern  Amazons  with  those 
of  Themiscyra.  The  names  of  different  towns,  as  well  as  the 
names  of  different  rivers,  fountains,  etc.,  show  the  course  of 
this  irruption.  Generally  over  the  whole  globe,  and  in  all  times 
the  mountains,  rivers,  valleys,  wells,  and  springs  tell  the  his 
tory  and  form  the  nucleus  for  the  oldest  legends  of  nations. 
The  Amazons,  seem  to  have  formed  the  staples  of  this  irrup 
tion,  judging  from  the  cities  whose  foundation  is  ascribed  to 
them.  Such  wereMaza,  Mazec,  in  Bythinia ;  Cyme,  called  also 


APPENDIX.  295 

Amazonium  in  Eolide  opposite  Lesbos,  Myrina  also  in  Eolia, 
Myralea,  Pygelle,  and  others  scattered  in  different  directions, 
of  which  Ephesus — burnt  and  ransacked  by  Cimmerians,  and 
the  Amazons — seems  to  have  formed  the  centre. 

Finally  the  Amazons  called  Scythian,  mentioned  by  Hero 
dotus,  and  said  most  improbably  to  have  fought  and  overcome 
Cyrus,  are  known  history  by  the  fables  concerning  their 
existence.  These  lived  north  of  the  Caucasus,  in  a  portion 
of  the  country  between  the  ancient  Tanais  and  the  Eha, 
Araxes,  called  now  the  Volga.  In  the  south  of  this  Amazon 
ian  region  ran  the  river  Imytyus,  and  it  reached  north,  where 
Appianus  and  Ptolemeus  placed  the  MitJiridatica  regio.  In 
the  west  it  was  bounded  by  a  chain  of  very  elevated  hills, 
called  by  the  ancients,  Hyppian  (horse)  afterwards  Gordian, 
also  Eiphean  mountains.  These  Amazons  descended  from  the 
same  stock  as  those  of  Theiniscyra. 

The  Pentateuch  gives  to  Noah  three  sons,  and  the  ethno 
graphy  of  some  races  seemingly  coincides  with  the  tradition. 
Very  likely  already  in  the  Caucasian  cradle,  the  descendants  of 
Kiphat,  son  of  Gomer  and  grandson  of  Japhet,  separated  and 
spread  themselves  by  three  primordial  branches.  As  was 
mentioned,  the  Enetes,  one  of  these  branches,  issued  by  the 
mountain  passes  of  the  South ;  and  another  branch  made  choice 
of  the  northern  declivities  for  their  pilgrimage.  To  the  last  be 
longed  the  old  Cimmerians  of  the  Pontus.  The  Amazons  of  the 
Tanais  belong  to  the  northern  branch  of  the  children  of  Riphat. 

On  the  authority  of  Herodotus,  many  writers  looked  upon 
these  Amazons  as  the  mothers  of  the  Sarmates.  Tradition  or 
fable  tells  us  that  a  young  son  of  some  Scythian  king  seized 
by  surprise  some  Amazons,  made  acquaintance  with  their  queen, 
and  was  rejoined  by  some  of  his  youthful  companions — and 
that  this  was  the  origin  of  the  Sarmates.  Although  the  exist 
ence  of  the  Sarmates  is  averred  in  the  first  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era,  nevertheless,  without  going  back  to  a  remote  an 
tiquity,  their  origin  wants  historical  evidence.  They  appeared 
in  Europe  without  ascertained  ancestors,  and  they  disappeared 
in  the  fifth  or  sixth  century,  leaving  no  undeniably  established 
historical  posterity. 


296  APPENDIX. 

History  mentions  first  the  Sarmates  on  the  west  of  the 
Hyppian  hills  bordering  the  country  of  the  Amazons.  The 
appearance  of  the  Sarmates,  although  greatly  posterior  to  the 
disappearance  of  the  Amazons,  took  place  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  country  occupied  by  the  latter.  These  two  circumstan 
ces  taken  together  formed  the  source  from  which  the  fabulous 
origin  of  the  Sarmates  started.  Indeed,  when  the  writers  of 
the  time  of  the  Roman  empire,  in  speaking  of  the  Sarmates 
give  a  description  of  their  usages  and  manners,  and  especially 
of  those  of  their  women,  there  is  to  be  found  a  striking  resem 
blance  to  the  Amazonian  modes  of  life. 

Nicolaus  Darnascenus,  friend  of  King  Herodus,  writes  in 
the  following  manner  upon  the  Sarmates  :  "  Uxoribus  in  omni 
bus  obtemperant  tanquam  dominabus  (Seo-Troii/ai?)  regina  domi- 

nante. Yirginsa  non  prius  nuptias  concedunt  quam  ho- 

stem  aliquum  interfecerit." 

The  testimony  of  Strabo,  relating  to  the  disappearance  of  the 
Enetes  from  Asia  Minor  after  the  Trojan  war,  will  be  recollect 
ed.  Goerres,  one  of  the  most  erudite  men  of  our  century  (who 
died  about  eight  years  ago)  supposes  that  the  disappearance  of  the 
Asiatic  Amazons  coincided  with  that  of  the  Enetes.  These 
latter  abandoned  Asia  for  definitive  settlements,  as  no  portions 
of  that  part  of  the  world  seem  to  have  been  intended  to  be 
finally  peopled  by  the  race  to  which  the  Enetes  belonged. 
Their  sojourn  there  seems  to  have  been  only  a  protracted  stay 
in  the  course  of  this  primitive  pilgrimage. 

And  as  the  migratory  bird  does  not  construct  its  nest  before 
it  has  reached  that  region  to  which  nature  directs  it, — so  the 
first  pioneers  of  mankind  proceeded  in  their  pilgrimages  until 
they  reached  those  lands,  which  by  the  decree  of  Providence 
were  to  be  their  final  home.  For  then,  as  now,  nothing  was 
abandoned  to  chance  in  life  and  in  the  movements  of  man 
kind. 

Disappearing  from  Asia,  the  Enetes  appear  again  in  Europe— 
in  Italy  according  to  classical  writers.  We  have  seen  the  testi 
mony  of  Strabo — but  he  is  not  the  only  one  who  relates  it.  In 
the  fragments  of  Cato  is  to  be  found, — "  Venetis  cunctis  origo 
Phaetontea  est.1'  Polybius  sa'ys,  "  Loca  vero  mari  Adriatico 


APPENDIX.  297 

vicina — antiquum  ex  Paphlagonia  genus  colit.  Hi  Veneti  ap- 
pellati."  Piiny  as  well  as  Ptolemeus,  enumerating  the  ancient 
nations  and  those  of  their  time,  prove  the  Paphlagonian  origin 
of  the  Enetes — V'enetes.  T.  Livy  begins  his  books  thus  speak 
ing  of  the  nations  preceding  the  Eomans  in  the  land  of 
Ytalos  :  "  Antenorum  cum  multitudine  Henetum — qui  seditione 
a  Paphlagonia  pulisi — venisse  in  intimum  maris  Adriatic! 
sinum." 

Before  this  colonization  in  the  Italiotian*  country,  this 
branch  of  the  Enetes  continued  its  migration  through  Thrace, 
and  the  Hyemus,  toward  a  final  home.  This  was  in  the  south 
east  of  Europe,  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube,  and  among  the 
Krapak  mountains.  From  thence  they  extended  along  the 
Elbe  to  the  Baltic,  and  toward  the  west  probably  to  Vindelicia. 
In  the  last  centuries  of  the  Roman  Empire,  the  Enetes  or 
Yenetes,  then  united  with  other  branches  of  the  same  trunk, 
make  their  entrance  into  history,  bearing  the  general  name  of 
the  whole  race.  Pliny,  Ptolemeus,  Amm.  Marcellinus,  and 
others,  assign  to  the  different  tribes  of  the  Enetian  branch,  the 
lands  from  Illyricum  to  the  Baltic.  All  these  tribes  take,  at 
least  finally,  the  name  of  Slavic.  After  the  fall  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  and  the  extinction  of  the  classical  world  and  its  writers, 
the  chroniclers  belonging  to  the  first  centuries  of  the  Middle 
ages,  the  Byzantine  historiographers,  and  finally  the  erudite  of 
the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  acknowledge  the  Enetes 
or  Yenetes  to  be  Slavi. 

Bishop  Jornandes,  a  Gothic  chronicler,  speaking  of  the  in 
habitants  of  the  north-east  of  Europe,  calls  them  Yinidi — 
Yeneti.  "  Ab  una  stirpe  exorti  tria  nunc  nomina  reddidere ; 
id  est :  Yeneti — Antes — Slavi."  Procopius,  Constantinus  Por- 
phyrogenos,  and  others,  say  the  same. 

All  these  testimonies  establish  the  fact  that  the  inhabitants 
of  the  banks  of  the  Elbe  are  descended  from  the  ancient  Enetes, 
or  Yenetes — and  that  they  belong  to  the  Slavic  race.  It  is  un 
deniable  to  every  historian  that  the  Enetes  and  other  tribes  of 

*  The  predecessors  of  the  Komans  are  called  Italiots,  from  Italos 
and  their  successors  are  Italians. 
13* 


298  APPENDIX. 

the  same  branch,  spoken  of  by  Pliny  and  Ptolemy  are  the 
Slavi  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries.  As  such  they  are  ac 
knowledged  by  subsequent  writers,  among  others  by  Koger 
Bacon,  the  intellectual  giant  of  the  middle  ages,  by  the  chroni 
cler  Helmodius,  and  finally  by  Philip  Melancthon,  who  says : 
"  Nam  Heneti  gens  Asiatica,  lingua,  moribus,  et  vitce  institutis 
different  a  Sarmatis  id  est  a  Tartaris.  Ergo  Germanos  Heneti 
proximi  viverunt,  quanquam  nunc  Heneti  utramque  ripam  Yis- 
tulse  tenent,  sed  passim  in  ultimis  finibus  Germanis  fuisse  ad- 
mixtos  Henetos  apparet  appellationibus." 

When  these  different  Enetian  families  extricate  their  de 
nominations  from  classical  qualifications  and  terminations,  re 
viving  their  unchangeable  radicals,  the  Slavic  names  are  heard 
on  the  same  spots  where  the  nations  of  Pliny  and  Ptolomeus 
sojourned.  Thus  arises  the  name  Tschechia  (or  Bohemia). 
As  soon  as  the  Tschechs  took  strong  root,  the  Amazons  plainly 
reappear  among  them  with  the  same  characteristics  according 
to  the  new  Tschechian  legends,  as  distinguished  them  in  the 
ancient  classical  traditions.  They  emerge  on  the  banks  of  the 
Elbe  in  new  places  under  Slavic  names,  but  showing  all  the 
outlines  of  the  violent  passions  with  which  they  have  been  en 
dowed  by  antiquity. 

Among  the  whole  descent  of  Japhet,  among  all  the  nations 
who  went  forth  from  Caucasus  and  Armenia,  and  especially 
among  these  who  peopled  Europe  from  the  Hellespont  to  Gades 
and  to  the  countries  of  the  Celtic  Britons,  it  is  only  by  these 
Tschechs  in  the  West  of  Europe,  that  the  mythical  existence 
of  the  Amazons  is  revived. 

The  Tschechian  legends  gleaned  verbally  from  the  people  by 
the  national  chroniclers  relate  that  Wlasta,  according  to  some 
a  daughter  of  the  prince  Crac,  Cracus,  by  others  said  to  be 
pupil  to  the  queen  Libussa,  who  married  a  ploughman  named 
Premysl  (intelligence)  and  was  a  mother  and  benefactress  of 
the  country — put  herself  at  the  head  of  women  and  founded  an 
Amazonian  state.  Wlasta,  wlast,  signifies  power ;  she  erected  a 
town  or  perhaps  a  castle  whose  name  was  Devium,  Devia,  De- 
vicograd.  (Deva,  Devica,  maiden,  grad  town— castle.)  These 
women  waged  a  most  destructive  war  against  men,  killing  the 


APPENDIX.  299 

male  children  and  carrying  off  the  female,  from  whom  they  cut 
off  one  breast.  They  were  generally  on  horseback,  etc : — and 
every  one  will  recognize  in  these  descriptions  the  mythical 
Amazons  of  antiquity. 

The  fables  of  the  infancy  of  Poland  also  show  an  instance 
of  a  woman  ruling  the  country.  So  the  national  reminiscence 
of  Wanda,  daughter  of  one  Oracus,  founder  of  the  town  Oraco- 
via,  to  whom  she  succeeded.  This  legend  was  brought  most 
probably  to  Poland  from  Tschechia%with  the  dominator  Cracus. 

In  the  quick  and  fiery  spirit  which  fills  the  veins  of  a  cer 
tain  class  of  Polish  women  of  the  present  time,  can  be  seen 
the  traces  of  Amazonian  blood  and  filiation. 

It  has  been  mentioned,  that  one  of  the  branches  of  the 
descendants  of  Riphat,  son  of  Gomer,  issued  from  Caucasus  by 
its  northern  declivities.  In  search  of  its  predestinated  patri 
mony,  it  wandered  along  the  banks  of  rivers  and  near  moun 
tains  on  a  course  towards  the  north.  In  this  manner  this 
branch  seems  to  have  followed  the  course  of  the  old  river  Nar- 
danus  or  Hypanis,  now  Kuban ;  crossing  afterwards  the  Meotis, 
it  extended  itself  between  the  Borysthenes  or  Dnieper,  and 
beyond  the  Tanais  or  Don,  leaving  every  where  colonies  and 
tribes.  Ascending  the  basin  of  the  Borysthenes,  it  entered 
that  of  the  Dwina,  in  the  vicinity  of  lake  Ylmen  and  the  sources 
of  the  Eha  or  Volga.  The  mountains  called  "Woldai,  generally 
classed  by  antiquity  among  the  Riphean  mountains,  seem  to  have 
been  the  terminus  of  the  wanderings  of  this  branch.  It  took 
possession  of  these  countries  as  its  final  fatherland.  There 
were  its  holy  hearth  and  holy  forest,  and  there  its  traditional 
and  religious  mysteries  were  revived.  In  these  countries  an 
tiquity  situates  the  mythical  Hyperboreans  so  highly  esteemed 
by  Herodotus  and  all  the  classical  world,  of  Pliny,  Pausanias, 
Apollonius,  Pomponius  and  others.  Ammianus  Marcellinus 
calls  them  Arymphseos,  so  also  do  all  subsequent  writers  and 
chroniclers.  So  also  are  they  named  by  Roger  Bacon  and  the 
anonymous  old  geographer  of  Ravenna,  in  his  ethnographic 
hours,  as  well  as  afterwards  by  Martinus  Zellerius,  and  other 
geographers  of  the  XVth  and  XYIth  centuries. 

The  traditions  of  the  Amazons  emerge  in  these  new  settle- 


300  APPENDIX. 

ments  of  the  Kiphatides,  and  again  animate  the  legends, 
On  the  heights  of  Woldai,  and  around  lake  Ylmen,  the  women 
war  against  men,  and  found  and  govern  cities.  There  was 
situated  the  terra  f&minarum  or  land  of  women  of  the  North 
ern  chroniclers  of  the  Xth  and  Xlth  centuries.  According  to 
one  of  these  legends,  the  ancient  city  of  Novgorod  (New 
town,  (near  lake  Ylmen,  which,  in  the  earliest  Christian  cen 
turies — probably  in  the  IVth  or  Vth — may  be  looked  upon  as 
the  New-York  of  the  North,  being  then  ruled  by  republican 
institutions,  was  built  by  women  on  their  return  from  some 
warlike  excursion  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube. 

The  chronicler  Adamus  Bremensis  relates  as  follows  what 
reached  him  in  relation  to  this  terra  fceminarum  (Women- 
land)  :  "  Circa  littora  maris  Balthiei  ferunt  esse  Amazon  es  quod 
nunc  terra  foeminarum  dicitur.  .  .  .  Sunt  etiam  qui  re- 
ferrunt  impregnari  a  preteruentibus  negotiatoribus  vel  ab  eis 
quos  inter  se  habent  captivos  .  .  .  generant  Cynocephalos 
qui  caput  in  pectore  habentes  in  Eussia  saepe  videantur  cap 
tivos."  In  another  place :  "  Filius  regis  (Dane  or  Norman) 
nomine  Amund  a  patre  missus  ut  dilaterat  imperium  quum  in 
patriam  fosminarum  venisset  quos  nos  Amazones  vocamus,  ve- 
neno  quod  ille  fontibus  immiscerunt  turn  ipse  quam  ejus  exer- 
citus  perire." 

Here  finishes  the  Amazonian  fable  in  European  legends 
and  recollections.  Many  centuries  afterwards,  one  of  the 
Spanish  leaders  in  South  America,  in  going  up  one  of  the  rivers, 
in  this  then  newly  discovered  world,  asserts  that  he  met  a 
whole  population  of  armed  women,  who  resisted  his  troops 
most  desperately.  He  believed  himself  to  have  encountered 
Amazons,  and  named  after  them  the  river.  But  I  think  no 
one  of  his  adventurous  successors  mentions  such  a  striking 
event,  and  this  in  a  time  so  near  our  own,  and  of  which  we 
possess  most  minute  relations.  This  single  and  unsupported 
mention  of  so  remarkable  an  appearance,  justifies  a  doubt 
in  the  reality  of  these  newly  discovered  Amazons.  Probably 
they  were  armed  women,  who,  with  their  husbands,  or  in  their 
absence,  defended  their  homes  against  these  invaders.  In  a 
land  where  every  thing  appeared  unusual  and  surprising,  the 


APPENDIX.  301 

exalted  Spanish  fancy,  seeking  for  the  marvellous,  created  in. 
stantly  an  analogy  with,  and  believed  itself  to  have  realized 
the  long  lost  fable  of  the  Amazons.  That  the  leader  gave  to 
these  warlike  women  this  name  can  be  explained ;  for  proba 
bly  in  that  time,  as  now,  every  woman  whose  taste  and  occu 
pations  were  rather  masculine,  was  called  an  Amazon.  In 
this  manner  every  country,  city  and  village  had  and  has  its 
Amazons.  Thus  the  Carthaginian  women,  those  of  Saguntum, 
the  mountaineers  of  the  primitive  cantons  of  Switzerland, 
fighting  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Lucerne  against  the  French  in 
vasion  commanded  by  Brune ;  and  those  of  Saragossa,  as  well 
as  those  of  the  Greek  war  of  independence,  should  be  all 
classed  as  Amazons.  But  those  armed  women,  struggling  and 
defying  death  in  the  defence  of  the  holiest  interests,  are  not 
Amazons  in  the  historical  meaning  of  the  word. 

In  thus  recapitulating  the  various  relations  transmitted  to 
us  by  antiquity,  as  well  as  tracing  out  the  ethnography  of  spots 
which  were  inhabited  by  the  Amazons,  I  think  I  have  proved 
that  they  made  their  appearance  generally  and  almost  exclu 
sively  by  the  side  of  branches  issued  from,  and  belonging  to, 
a  distinct  race,  and  this  during  all  the  phases  of  the  wander 
ings  and  different  denominations  to  which  these  branches  have 
been  subjected.  It  has  some  probability  that  these  branches 
are  descents  of  Eiphat,  through  Gomer,  grandson  of  Japhet, 
and  if  the  historical  evidence  of  the  Genesis  be  admitted,  an 
cestors  of  the  Slavic  race.  Thus,  also,  the  Amazons  most  un 
doubtedly  must  be  acknowledged  as  belonging  to  it  by  blood. 
Especially  is  this  proved  by  their  reappearance  in  the  legends 
of  the  Slavic  inhabitants  of  the  Elbe  and  the  eastern  shores 
of  the  Baltic  alone. 


302 


APPENDIX. 


B. 


THE  FOURTEEN  CLASSES  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  PUBLIC 
SERVICE;    OR,  THE  TSCHINS. 


CLASS. 

MILITABT. 

CIVIL. 

I. 

Field  Marshal. 

Chancellor. 

II. 

General  in  Chief. 

Keal  Privy  Councillor, 

III. 

Lieutenant  General. 

Privy  Councillor. 

IV. 

General  of  Brigade. 

Eeal  Councillor  of  State. 

V. 
VI. 

Brigadier  (no  longer  existing). 
Colonel. 

Councillor  of  State. 
Councillor  of  Court. 

VII. 

Lieutenant  Colonel. 

Councillor  of  College. 

VIII. 
IX. 

Major. 
Captain. 

Assessor  of  College. 
Titulary  Councillor. 

X. 

XI. 

Captain  of  the  Staff. 
Lieutenant. 

Secretary  of  College. 
Secretary  of  Government,  or 

County. 

XII. 

Second  Lieutenant. 

Clerk  of  Chancellery. 

XIII. 

Cornet. 

No  special  denomination  be 
yond  that  of  Tschind  wnik 

(keeper  of  office). 

XIV. 

The  same.    Both  these  low 

est  classes  have  the  privi 

lege   of   being  exempted 

from  corporal  punishment, 
and  wear  a  small  sword 

_  with  the  uniform. 

0. 


THE    POLITICAL    TESTAMENT    OF    PETER    THE    GREAT. 


a  glance  on  the  continual  expanse  of  Russia,  on 
all  points  of  her  extensive  frontiers,  witnessing  the  arrogant 
manner  with  which  she  comes  forth  in  her  recent  attack  on 
Turkey,  considering  the  haughty  attitude  assumed  hy  the  Czar 


APPENDIX.  303 

in  the  affairs  of  the  world,  one  easily  is  inclined  to  perceive  or  to 
try  to  detect  in  this  mounting  tide  of  Eussian  ascendency,  deep 
ly  laid  schemes  for  enslaving  at  least  the  ancient  hemisphere. 
It  is  not  only  supposed,  but  positively  asserted  that  this  world- 
embracing  activity  is  the  fulfilment  of  a  hereditary  legacy  inspir 
ing  and  directing  the  wide-spread  actions  of  one  Czar  after  an 
other.  Thus  at  present  Eussian  horses  quench  their  thirst  in 
the  Danube,  Eussia  incites,  as  it  is  said,  her  nominal  vassal  the 
Khan  of  Persia,  to  attack  Herat,  and  form  a  Eussian  vanguard 
towards  Afghanistan,  and  in  due  time  towards  the  British  pos 
sessions.  Eussian  steamers  disturb  the  waters  of  the  Lake 
Aral,  navigate  the  Oxus  and  Jaxartes,  and  it  is  rumored  that 
armed  corps  are  ready  to  land  towards  Khiva,  Bokhara,  Kho- 
kand ;  Eussian  Engineers  survey  the  table-land  between  Altai 
and  Thibet,  and  raise  forts  along  the  skirts  of  the  salt  lakes  of 
the  grand  steppe  of  Tartary ;  Eussian  armed  battalions  and  Cos 
sacks  gather  along  the  frontier  of  China,  menacing  on  the  west 
the  little  Bucharia,  and  Mantchouria  on  the  northeast ;  Eussian 
fleets  begin  to  appear  in  the  Pacific,  and  the  flag  with  the  two- 
headed  eagle  will  soon  make  its  appearance  among  the  diplo 
matists  in  the  Sandwich  Islands ;  Eussian  colonists  and  mer 
chants  navigate  from  Ochotsk,  Kamtschatka  or  Sitka  down  to 
the  shores  of  Japan,  founding  cities  on  the  Ainos  on  the  edge 
of  the  Mantchou-land.  From  the  Euxine  to  the  Pacific  opposite 
to  Yesso,  extends  an  uninterrupted  chain  of  armed  vanguards, 
forerunners  of  a  storm  ready  to  hurl  on  the  more  conspicuous 
points  of  this  immeasurable  line. 

By  these  facts  is  sustained  the  assertion  that  the  lineage  of 
the  Czars  advances  with  unabated  pertinacity  to  fulfil  the  destiny 
traced  by  the  prophetic  spirit  of  its  great  protoplast.  Politi 
cians  and  other  writers  have  settled  it  almost  beyond  contesta 
tion,  that  with  Peter  the  Great  originated  the  idea  of  this  uni 
versal  dominion,  and  moreover,  that  he  foretraced  to  his  suc 
cessors  the  ways  of  its  execution.  It  is  almost  a  general  be 
lief  that  Peter  wrote  a  will  whose  decisions  are  religiously  car 
ried  out  by  his  successors.  In  this  mysterious  document  the  dis 
memberment  of  Poland  is  said  to  be  specially  recommended  and 
enjoined,  as  well  as  the  final  destruction  of  Turkey  and  the  con- 


304  APPENDIX. 

quest  of  Asia.  The  route  to  the  British  provinces  could  not 
have  been  traced  there,  as  at  that  time  England  did  not  hold  the 
"East  Indies.  All  this  would  be  superhuman,  and  prophetic,  if 
true.  Had  Peter  done  any  thing  like  this,  it  would  raise  him 
above  all  statesmen  known  in  history — nay,  he  ought  to  be 
considered  as  gifted  with  more  than  human  powers.  We  are 
sorry  for  the  sake  of  the  vagaries  constructed  upon  this  will 
of  Peter,  to  oppose  a  flat  denial  to  its  existence.  There  is  no 
where  such  a  Czarian  relic.  At  any  rate,  it  does  not  exist  in 
the  state  or  family  archives  of  the  Komanoffs  or  Gottorps. 
Besides,  history  explains  by  herself  most  clearly  the  source, 
the  reasons  and  the  agencies  at  work  in  the  ambitious  encroach 
ments  of  Kussia,  without  being  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  any 
such  striking  fallacy.  If  there  exist  such  a  legatee,  it  is  the 
whole  nation.  This  we  shall  show.  The  Czars  are  only  car 
rying  out  that  which,  rising  upwards  from  the  bottomless  depth 
of  national  aspirations,  becomes  a  fact  by  itself.  The  encroach 
ments  of  Eussia  cannot  be  contested.  But  the  movements  of 
affairs  around,  play  rather  her  game,  clearing  up  the  way  to  her 
ascendency.  If  finally  the  nature  of  the  source  is  to  be  ascer 
tained,  it  is  not  an  apocryphal  and  imaginary  command,  but 
deeper,  larger,  and  inexhaustible,  and  thus  more  dangerous 
for  the  moment  than  any  individual  hereditary  ambition.  It 
runs  powerfully  through  all  strata  of  the  nation.  Men  ris 
ing  from  nothingness  have  in  the  last  150  years  embodied  these 
ambitious  incitements,  and  the  sovereigns  have  acted  under 
the  national  impulse.  Peter  the  Great,  to  be  sure,  started  Rus 
sia  on  a  new  orbit.  He  opened  communications  by  sea,  and 
brought  her  nearer  to  the  busy  European  world.  After  him, 
other  elements,  new  and  unforeseen  events,  made  her  roll  on 
wards  to  the  present  day.  The  principal  aim  of  Peter  was  to 
bring  his  country  to  the  Baltic,  to  navigate  the  Black  and 
Caspian  seas,  and  to  unite  the  northern  and  southern  naviga 
tion  by  internal  water  communications.  Thus  he  opened  a 
channel  between  the  Volga,  the  lakes  and  Neva,  and  attempted 
unsuccessfully  to  cut  one  from  the  Don  to  the  Volga,  by  which 
the  Euxine  and  Caspian  would  have  been  married.  As  to 
dreams  of  universal  monarchy  for  himself  or  his  successors, 


APPENDIX.  305 

his  ambition  did  not  go  beyond  the  wish  to  become  a  member 
or  the  Roman  or  German  empire,  by  the  purchase  or  conquest 
of  the  small  dukedoms  of  Holstein  or  Oldenburg.  He  respect 
ed  so  far  the  power  of  the  German  Emperors,  as  to  ask  from 
them  the  grant  of  titles  of  princes  and  counts  for  his  own  sub 
jects,  as  was  the  case  for  Menchikoff,  Sheremeteff  and  others. 
In  this  his  successors  followed  his  example,  Paul  being  the  first 
who  created  new  titles  in  Eussia.  Peter  was  likewise  far 
from  thinking  of  partitioning  Poland,  and  still  less  would  he  have 
recommended  it  to  his  successors.  During  his  wars  with  Charles 
XII.,  Eussian  troops  occupied  for  years  various  parts  of  Poland, 
whose  political  existence  was  for  a  moment  nearly  annihilated. 
One  part  of  the  nobility  submitted  to  the  orders  of  Charles  XII., 
and  followed  the  treacherous  Leshtshynsky,  a  king  of  his  cre 
ation  ;  others  remained  faithful  to  the  freely  elected,  but  by 
Swedish  troops  expelled,  Augustus  of  Saxony.  Lithuania  was  di 
vided  in  deadly  feud  between  the  powerful  houses  of  Patz  and 
Sapieha.  At  that  time  Peter  could  have  easily  cut  off  as 
much  from  Poland  as  he  might  have  found  useful  or  neces 
sary.  He  could  have  done  it  even  with  some  appearance  of 
diplomatic  justice,  as  half  of  the  nation  or  nobility  fought  with 
the  Swedes  against  him,  and  his  ally  Augustus,  overpowered 
by  Charles,  was  obliged  to  conclude  a  separate  treaty  to  save 
his  Saxon  possessions,  renouncing  the  crown  of  Poland  and  the 
Eussian  alliance.  Peter's  victories  restored  him  to  the  throne, 
and  put  an  end  to  the  Swedish  dominion  in  Poland.  He  never 
abandoned  the  interests  of  his  faithless  ally,  or  attempted  to 
jeopardize  the  independence  of  Poland.  In  his  correspond 
ence  with  his  commanders,  Menchikoff  and  Sheremeteff,  he 
speaks  always  with  great  commiseration  and  indulgence  of 
the  various  sufferings  of  the  nation.  He  explains  to  them  and 
even  justifies  the  treachery  of  Augustus  and  the  continual  ter 
giversations  of  the  Polish  nobility ;  joining  now  the  Eussians, 
now  the  Swedes ;  recommending  to  the  generals  not  to  be  re 
vengeful  against  the  poor  people  or  the  individuals.  It  is  a  noto 
rious  fact  for  any  one  half-way  acquainted  with  the  history  of 
the  18th  century,  that  the  partition  of  Poland  originated  with 
Frederic  of  Prussia  or  his  brother  Prince  Henry,  and  was  de- 


306  APPENDIX. 

cided  and  concocted  at  first  between  the  cabinet  of  Berlin  and 
Kaunitz,  or  rather  the  virtuous  Maria  Theresa ;  who,  piously 
hypocritical,  after  having  received  at  the  confessional  the  abso 
lution  of  her  Capuchin  monk,  cheerfully  signed  the  partition 
treaty,  urging  the  accession  of  the  immoral  but  reluctant 
Catharine.  True  it  is,  that,  this  political  slaughter  once  de 
cided,  Catharine  then  and  afterwards  took  care  to  have  of  the 
victim  as  large  a  slice  as  possible.  The  idea  of  the  destruction 
of  Poland  was  strange  to  the  cabinet  of  Petersburg,  to  such  an 
extent,  that  Potemkin — the  great  favorite  of  Catherine,  who 
for  more  than  forty  years  directed  ail-powerfully  the  foreign 
diplomacy  of  the  empire — seeing  in  the  last  years  of  life  his 
influence  and  power  decline,  formed  the  project  of  dethroning 
Poniatowski  and  of  declaring  himself  king  of  Poland.  It  may 
be  said  of  Potemkin,  who  owed  his  rise  to  an  accident,  that  he 
was  the  first  who  gave  a  new  positive  shape  and  direction  to 
the  national  aspirations  concerning  Turkey,  the  expulsion  of 
the  Moslems  from  Europe,  and  the  possession  of  Constantinople. 
Peter  never  extended  his  projects  so  far,  and  under  his  suc 
cessors  it  was  never  thought  of.  The  lascivious  Elizabeth,  his 
daughter,  and  the  fourth  after  him  on  the  throne,  detestin  gany 
trouble,  avoided  war  if  there  was  any  possibility  to  do  it ;  and 
even  Bestucheff  her  chancellor,  or  Worontzoff  her  favorite, 
never  nourished  any  ambitious  project  against  Turkey  or  any 
other  country.  Potemkin  evoked  it  from  the  recesses  of  the 
national  feelings,  and  inscribed  it  for  ever  in  the  governmen 
tal  policy.  The  expulsion  of  the  Turks  was  for  him  as  the 
"  delenda  est  Carthago  "  for  the  old  Roman.  The  wars  under 
Catharine  were  mostly  incited  by  him.  During  the  famous 
journey  of  Catharine  to  southern  Russia,  where  cities,  villages, 
and  populations  emerged  in  theatrical  scenery  created  by  the 
almighty  favorite,  several  finger-posts  were  erected  with  the 
inscription,  The  way  to  Constantinople.  Potemkin  consolidated 
the  Russian  power  in  the  Black  Sea.  He  conquered  and  an 
nexed  the  Taurian  peninsula,  or  Crimea ;  he  is  the  founder  of 
Cherson,  Nikolaeif,  Sebastopol,  the  restorer  of  Kertsh  and  of 
many  other  cities  there.  The  peninsula  began  to  be  cultivated 
under  his  impulse,  and  among  others  he  introduced  the  culture 


APPENDIX.  307 

of  fruit-trees,  which  now  give  a  large  income,  and  are  exported 
to  the  whole  empire,  even  to  the  market  of  Petersburg.  With 
Potemkin  originated  the  idea  of  giving  to  the  second  son  of 
Paul  the  name  of  Constantine,  as  a  foreboding  of  the  restora 
tion  of  the  ancient  Byzantine  empire. 

Thus,  not  even  then  did  the  Russian  policy  or  cabinet  think 
of  eventually  annexing  their  conquest.  But,  as  the  French 
proverb  says,  "  Uappetit  ment  en  mangeant;  "  and  the  idea  of 
universal  dominion,  if  there  is  any,  was  evoked  by  various  suc 
cessive  events.  All  that  in  this  direction  is  undertaken  or  ac 
complished  by  Russia,  all  that  startles  and  fills  other  governments 
with  awe,  is  the  work  of  accident  rather  than  the  result  of  a  far- 
reaching,  preconceived  plan  in  the  head  of  an  individual  or  of  a 
dynasty.  The  individual  ambition  of  rising  favorites  did  the 
whole,  independent  of  any  incentive  from  the  reigning  sove 
reigns.  Thus  here,  as  often  happens  in  history,  small  causes  pro 
duced  gigantic  effects.  The  Orloffs,  likewise  of  obscure  descent, 
rivals  of  Potemkin  in  the  favor  of  Catharine,  as  ambitious,  but  his 
inferiors  in  large  conceptions,  shared  with  him  his  enmity  to 
the  Turks.  Gregory  Orloff,  having  under  his  command  the 
Englishman  Elphinstone,  won  against  the  Turks  the  naval  battle 
of  Tchesme  and  received  for  it  the  name  of  Tschesmynsky. 
Alexander's  ambition  was  principally  attracted  towards  the 
west ;  and  it  is  Napoleon,  if  any  body,  who  contributed  to  intro 
duce  the  Russians  into  the  centre  of  Europe,  who  cleared  the 
way  for  their  preponderating  influence  in  the  affairs  of  the 
world.  Without  his  overthrow  of  the  Prussian  monarchy  after 
the  battles  of  Jena  and  Auerstadt,  the  Russians  would  not  have 
been  called  in,  and  the  kingdom  of  Prussia,  then  in  possession 
nearly  of  the  whole  present  mock  kingdom  of  Poland,  and 
backed  by  Germany,  would  have  formed  a  bulwark  to  Russian 
interference.  Napoleon,  flattering  Alexander,  holding  out  to 
him  the  mirage  of  a  division  of  the  world  between  them,  thus 
did  every  thing  to  rouse  ambitious  projects.  It  is  a  well- 
averred  fact,  that  at  the  interview  at  Erfurt,  and  afterwards 
during  his  matrimonial  views  for  one  of  the  sisters  of  Alex 
ander,  and  until  the  beginning  of  hostile  relations  in  1811, 
Napoleon  offered  several  times  to  give  up  the  new-formed 


308  APPENDIX. 

dukedom  of  Warsaw  or  Poland  for  an  alliance  with  Russia 
against  England  and  the  world.  All  this  was  more  than  suffi 
cient  to  give  the  Russians  a  consciousness  of  their  power,  and 
it  may  be  said  that  the  lures  proffered  by  Napoleon  acted  more 
efficaciously  on  the  Russian  statesmen  and  noblemen  surround 
ing  Alexander  than  on  the  Czar  himself.  The  heroic  resist 
ance  offered  by  the  Russian  people  to  the  invasion  of  1812,  was 
not  inspired  in  the  nation  by  the  Czar,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
Alexander  was  tempered  by  the  national,  characteristic,  and 
unyielding  stubbornness.  Public  opinion  prevented  any  con 
ciliatory  settlement  after  the  soil  was  invaded ;  several  battles 
were  lost  the  enemy  in  the  heart  of  Russia  and  in  possession  of 
Moscow.  When  the  French  army  retired  to  Poland,  Alexan 
der  wished  to  end  there  the  pursuit  of  the  enemy ;  but  his 
Russian  entourage,  as  Wolkonsky,  Balashoff,  Kutuzoff,  and 
many  others,  full  of  revenge,  urged  him  on  to  continue  the 
war  to  the  final  overthrow  of  the  foe.  Thus  events  put  the 
Russians  at  the  head  of  Europe  in  this  struggle  against  the 
French  Titan.  How  little  Alexander  acted  under  the  impulse 
of  any  preconceived  plans  may  be  judged  from  his  answer  to 
the  celebrated  Madame  de  Stael,  that  "  he  was  only  a  lucky  acci 
dent."  The  acclamations  of  the  whole  of  Europe  might  have 
been  sufficient  to  turn  his  head,  and  make  him  believe  himself 
"  the  man  of  destiny,"  as  Napoleon  was  called,  or  to  strengthen 
his  faith  in  hereditary  ambitious  transmissions,  if  in  reality 
any  had  existed.  The  Czars  head  a  national  machinery, 
powerful  in  itself — but  not  one  of  them  can  be  considered  as 
inspiring  a  powerful  soul  into  it,  as  creating  and  preordinating 
all  the  multifarious  and  extensive  manifestations  of  its  activity 
in  the  various  points  of  the  empire.  Thus  Richelieu,  a  French 
man,  favored  by  Alexander,  created  the  port  of  Odessa  in  spite 
of  the  court  of  Petersburg,  and  thus  contributed  mightily  to 
strengthen  the  Russian  influence  on  the  Black  Sea. 

The  Greeks,  the  Moldavians,  the  Ypsylantis,  the  Cantaku- 
zenos,  the  Comnens,  and  many  others  in  the  service  of  Russia, 
continued  for  more  than  half  a  century  the  work  commenced 
by  Potemkin,  alimenting  and  throwing  fuel  into  the  animosity 
of  the  Russians  against  the  Turks.  Now,  as  three  hundred 


APPENDIX.  309 

years  ago — when  the  enterprise  of  the  Strogonoffs,  merchants 
of  Moscow,  and  the  daring  spirit  of  Yermack,  the  Cossack,  a 
pirate  on  the  Volga,  conquered  Siberia — it  is  the  ambition  of 
individuals  shooting  from  the  mass  of  the  nation,  and  not  even 
the  descendants  of  ancient  powerful  families ;  it  is  the  craving 
for  influence  and  name  that  does  the  work,  extending  the  Rus 
sian  frontiers,  and  penetrating  deeply  and  more  deeply  onward, 
on  the  whole  line,  from  the  Danube  over  Thibet  and  China  to 
the  Pacific. 

During  the  last  years  of  the  reign  of  Alexander,  among  the 
general  apathy  prevailing  in  all  branches  of  the  government, 
the  national  pride,  personified  in  a  Yermoloff,  stirred  up  the  re 
gions  over  the  Caucasus  and  extended  the  awe  of  the  Russian 
name  and  power  among  the  mountaineers,  the  tribes  on  the 
Caspian,  and  the  Schaihs  of  Persia.  The  attempts  to  get  hold 
of  Khiva  and  Bokhara,  to  conquer  these  regions,  frustrated 
some  fifteen  years  ago  but  now  renewed  again,  originated  ex 
clusively  with  General  Peroffsky,  a  man  without  an  ancestry, 
by  birth  the  bastard  of  a  grandee,  once  a  youthful  playfellow  of 
Nicholas,  and  now  his  favorite.  His  projects,  opposed  by  all  the 
influential  statesmen  and  courtiers,  were  accepted  by  the  Czar 
as  procuring  an  occasion  for  the  general  to  distinguish  himself, 
and  not  at  all  as  a  scheme  deeply  pondered  or  forming  part  of 
a  general  preconceived  plan.  The  Emperor  wished  principally  to 
be  able  to  bestow  on  his  courtier  the  grand  cross  of  the  decora 
tion  of  St.  George,  which  can  be  worn  only  by  the  conqueror  of  a 
province.  Peroffsky,  haughty,  ambitious,  enterprising,  became 
governor  of  the  territory  of  Orenburg,  and  sent  therefrom,  on 
his  own  hook,  agents  to  explore  Khiva,  mark  the  military  route 
across  the  steppes,  and  even  to  stir  up  Persia,  and  the  Affghaus, 
and  penetrate  to  India.  One  of  his  agents,  "Witkewitch,  a 
Pole,  was  met  by  the  English  officers  in  the  Persian  army  at 
the  siege  of  Herat,  and  at  that  time  terrified  the  English  agents 
and  politicians.  Peroffsky  failed  then,  for  various  reasons,  but 
now  he  is  again  in  Orenburg,  about  to  renew  the  old  enter 
prise.  The  start  thus  once  given  by  an  individual,  the  govern 
ment  continues  the  work.  When  Peroffsky  was  recalled, 
steamers  were  sent  to  the  Lake  Aral,  to  Oxus,  Jaxartes,  and 


310  APPENDIX. 

thus  the  way  prepared  for  a  new  and  more  successful  at 
tempt. 

The  frontier  of  China,  Mantchou-land,  Japan,  and  the 
Pacific,  are  now  alarmed  by  Kussia.  This  is  the  work  of  Mou- 
rawioff,  for  two  or  three  years  the  governor-general  in  Eastern 
Siberia,  as  active,  ambitious,  and  enterprising  as  any  man  in 
Russia.  Until  his  time  all  was  quiet  there.  Such  individuals 
put  the  government  on.  the  track,  inspire  the  Czar,  instead  of 
receiving  their  inspiration  from  him.  They  receive  the  power 
to  act,  and  the  utmost  that  is  recommended  sometimes  to  them 
is,  to  see  what  can  be  done.  All  this  reminds  one  of  the  ex 
tension  of  the  power  of  Spain  in  America,  accomplished  by 
Columbus,  Cortez,  Pizarro,  mostly  in  spite  of  the  sovereigns 
and  their  councils. 

Such  are  the  agents  at  work  in  the  all-grasping  progress 
of  Russia.  Men  issuing  from  the  mass  of  the  nation,  giving 
utterance  to  the  national  ambition,  rather  than  instruments  of 
any  far-reaching  scheme  of  the  Czars.  Which  of  these  two 
ways  is  more  dangerous  or  beneficial  for  the  world,  or  at  least 
for  Europe,  only  the  future  will  prove. 


D. 


It  may  be  interesting  to  see  how  the  appearance  of  Russia 
was  considered  in  her  relations  to  Europe  some  three  hundred 
years  ago,  in  the  middle  of  the  16th  century.  The  orthogra 
phy,  punctuation,  and  even  the  bad  Latin  of  the  chronicler,  are 
faithfully  copied. 

Extract  from  an  old  chronicle,  "  Historiae  quae  advenerunt 
in  gubernationem  Ferdinandi  I.  Imperatori  Augusti :  Si~ 
mone  Schardio  collecta." 

*  *  *  "  Moschi  antea  artium  nostrarum  rudes,  successu 
temporis  solertissimi  efiecti  sunt,  et  tormenta  ex  metallis  fabri- 


APPENDIX.  311 

cata  qnam  plurima  in  aciem  mine  secum  adducunt.  *  *  * 
Ac  constat  belli  smalcaldici  tempore,  praefectum  quendam 
equitum  ex  Moschia  oriundum,  Divo  Carolo  Y.  quatuor  millia 
equitum  pollicitum  fuisse;  caeterum  quod  tardius  advenerat 
bello  jam  confecto ;  earn  tamen  gratiam  ab  optimo  principe  pro 
benefieio  oblito  retulisse,  et  quosdam  artifices  ex  Germania 
permissu  Caesaris  conducere  licerat,  quos  secum  in  Moschia  ad- 
vectaret.  *  *  *  Itaque  inter  alios  Architect!,  Typographi 
poetae,  Fabri  ferrarii,  et  quod  plurimum  internat,  tormentorum 
libratores  ac  magistri  conducti  sunt." 

The  members  of  this  expedition  were  arrested  by  the  magis 
trate  of  the  city  of  Llibeck,  but  released  by  the  express  orders 
of  the  German  Kaiser.  The  chronicler  thus  continues : — 

"Nbn  solum  autem  in  bellicis  munitionibus  prohibendis, 
insigni  solertia  usi  sunt  lubecensiis  ac  magistrates  septentrio- 
nis,  verum  etiam  omnium  navalium  rerum  scientiam  Moschis 
praeripere  satagerunt ;  ne  si  aliquando  classe  instructus  hostis 
barbarus  quid  in  inculta  ac  silvestri  regione  materia  non  de- 
esset  nemoris  excidendi,  omnem  non  solum  Germaniam  sed 
universam  Europam  posset  debellare;  qui  ter  centana  millia 
voluntariorum  equitum  in  aciem  cum  vellet  educeret,  et  mili- 
tantes  arctissima  in  disciplina  non  secus,  atque  conditione  servos 
contineret.  Occasionem  itaque  omnem  resecare  decreverant, 
quod  ea  sublata  eventum  quoque  lugubrem  sane  futurum  im- 
pediri  posse,  animadverterent.  Itaque  Legati  maritorum  civi- 
tatum  quos  Ansas  nominant  communi  decreto,  Lubecae  quon 
dam  habito  conventu,  Narbeusem  profectionem  omnem  ita 
sustulerant  ut  pro  infamibus  omnes  eos  haberi  pronunciarent 
qui  et  merces  suas  advectarent,  jure  denique  omni  mercaturae 
exercendae  interdicarent,  et  bona  insuper  eo  advehenda,  aut 
inibi  comparata,  actionibus  factis  publicari  fiscoque  attribui 
conserunt.  Videbant  enim  id  quod  res  erat:  Fureas  Helle- 
spontum  Ligurium  avaritia  transgressos  ad  invantibus,  Graecis 
transfugis  et  piratis  quum  classae  pollere  occiperent,  non  so 
lum  ipsam.  Constantinopolim  Imperii  dominant!,  sed  universam 
pene  Graeciam,  Macedonian!,  et  Illyricum  et  alia  loca  vicina 
[mperio  suo  subjecisse ;  ita  Moschos  quoque  omni  Septentrione 
terra  marique  invaso  et  predomito,  ubi  clapsis  potestas  fieret, 


312  APPENDIX. 

Narbae  et  Iwangrodi  eraporio  condito,  et  peritia  rei  navalis 
accederet,  quod  quidem  in  emporiis  facile  contingit :  in  interi- 
ora  Germaniae  innumerabili  effuso  exercitu  facile  posse  pene- 
trare.  Hoc  itaque  metu  deterriti,  negotiatores  a  navigatione 
interdicta,  usque  ad  hoc  tempora  abstinuerant,  adeo  quidem 
ut  neque  paulo  honestior  civis  ibi  domiciliurn  haberet."  ^  *  * 


THE   END. 


THIS   BOOK   IS   DUE  ON   THE   LAST  DATE 
STAMPED   BELOW 


RENEWED  BOOKS  ARE  SUBJECT  TO  IMMEDIATE 
RECALL 


OCT  1  5  19Ss> 
JUNG     1368 

JUN  1  9  REC'O 
LIBKAKT 

DUE    ,AY  1 1  1969 


LIBRARY,  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  DAVIS 

Book  Slip-35w-7,'62(D296s4)458 


^—  *-"f  j    / r  -^ 

Gurowski,  A.H 
Russia  as  it  is 


Call  Number: 

DK211 
09 


247924 


HnHH 


